We were exploring the village of Ay in Champagne and came upon this place. It was an unexpected and…read moreterrific find! First of all, it's really hard to find tasting rooms that are open to the public with out a reservation. Second, many tastings require you to do a tour. And really you can only do so many tours. The champagne making process is really strict, so there are only so many variations between the different champagne houses, which is primarily the grapes they decide to use, the length of aging and whether oak is used. We were able to get a tasting at Champagne Collet without a reservation and without a tour. As such, my husband was a bit skeptical on how good this champagne would be. Well, it was excellent! From our experience and that of others, the champagne market is dominated by the big houses that export to the four corners of the world. The rest are smaller producers and it could be hit or miss, and Champagne Collet was a hit! They have a cool tasting room with their bottles displayed. There is merchandise, which I love to browse. And we did purchase a fabulous champagne carrier so that we can haul our Champagne Collet purchases home. Valerie, our hostess, explained all of their different champagnes and took great care of us. This was a fabulous experience. Champagne Collet does do tours, and if you want to join them for one, you should call ahead. And with most of the region, you should call to confirm they are open before heading over. Also, learn a couple of phrases in French besides Bonjour and Merci, it helps.

Was a wonderful stop on our champagne journey The tour was…read moregreat and very informative, the guide was very knowledgeable and my favorite part was the "smell testers" you had to guess what types of ingredients/fruits notes were in the champagne Always good to support the smaller champagne houses

Our tour group had a guided tour of this champagne winery. Like many other champagne wineries, it…read moreis located in the champagne capital of France, the town of Epernay. We learned a champagne is not a certifiable champagne unless it is produced in this region and also made only from 3 grape varieties - chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier. We got to see their cellar as well as smell the grape varieties, and then also concluded the tour with a tasting of two of their champagnes - a clear one and a rose one. Both were nice and it was a first for me to have a rose champagne.

In 2013 my friend went here with a tour group and fell in love with their champagne- I just got…read moreback from hunting them down, and she was right! The champagne is delicious- in my opinion better than the big brands in the region- and the proprietors are so kind! They are seven generations of champagne makers and boy do they know what they're doing. My friend and I bought 10 bottles between us and they helped us pack everything so that they all survived their voyages home in our luggage. I would call ahead if you're looking to visit, since they do close for lunch as is common in France, and if you can, bring someone who speaks French since they don't speak English! It's a completely authentic experience, and we enjoyed this visit probably more than anything else we did in France. Absolutely worthwhile!

This is a lovely Champagne house in the middle of Damery. We stopped in here because we had had…read moretheir vintage Champagne at dinner a couple of times, and we knew we wanted to try to get some to take home. The nice thing about this one is that they are open in the morning and afternoon, and you don't need to make a booking before you go. They will let you try several of their wines. Since I was driving, I could only have a splash, but they all seemed really good. I think this winery is the one we brought the most bottles home from. We got several bottles of the vintage (because it was so good as so much cheaper than at dinner, only around 25 Euros a bottle I think), and a few of the others. There's quite a bit of seating for tastings, but when we arrived, it was already half full, and the other half filled up quite quickly. There are English speakers if that is necessary for you. All in all, this is a great house with great wine. If we're back, I know we'll be making this a stop to pick up more of their delicious wine. (They also sell pre-made French food like foie gras that you can take away with you as well.)

Driving around the region, we had Champagne Rene Geoffroy on our list of places to try…read more The owner was out of town but a neighbor was taking visitors through their tastings. If I remember correctly, costs were something around €7-€10 per person and there were 4 varietals These champagnes are to be considered more of a food-pairing wine over an aperitif ( in my opinion ) and they were very buttery / oakey. it was interesting to even consider a champagne to consume with a main course but this region was the perfect education for our novice palettes There was a couple just finishing up as we entered and they were known to the neighbor as they were not charged for the tasting - it is all who you know...... And perhaps we would have better appreciated our experience if we better understood their harvesting & bottling process but given the host, we were only asked what flavor notes we picked up as we tasted each varietal. We were thankful they were open and we had the opportunity to taste & for that, have to say this ranks as A-OK

One of the smaller champagne houses in Epernay and the only one that stills uses the traditional…read moreoak barrels for the first step in the distillation process. The tasting room is fairly small but includes a couple of outdoor tables that provide a peak into their barrel house which was an added plus. Our group decided to each do a tasting and share sips in order to try the most number of champagnes. Tasting includes two heavy pours for roughly 30€ per person (slightly more or less based on your selections). We really enjoyed the Paradis, a 2016 vintage, and the brut. One nice touch that this champagne house does is to provide a paper ring around the base of each champagne glass in order to tell which type of champagne is in each glass. This is helpful for larger groups which are sharing a number of glasses. Our group had visited a few champagne houses before this and sometimes had trouble keeping track of our glasses. The woman working in the tasting room was very friendly and definitely offered heavy pours. Overall, a smaller house but still a big experience. Check them out!

Decent tour, very informative. Disappointed by only two tastings for the price. It was cool to see…read morea smaller company tour, but price is high.

Best experience in all of Champagne region! We brought our…read morewinery staff from USA to France. We had already visited other Houses, such as Taittinger, and tasted multiple glasses from a variety of others. By far all the wines from Legras & Haas were far superior to all the others- and we had never even heard of this House. Also, we were greeted by members of the House family who were ever so gracious to all of us, offering nice size pours and spending over one hour just with our group- and we just showed up at 4PM one day without an appointment! A MUST VISIT to experience both their outstanding wines and gracious family owners.

I booked a guided tasting here and learned so much! Leclerc doesn't import much into the US but…read morethey're really doing some innovative stuff. They're the first fully certified organic champagne house (since the 70's?) and recently they've been dropping bottles in the ocean currents vs manual rack riddling. I'm serious. They're finding that the flavors are much deeper, faster. Anyway the wines are great, the house is gorgeous and my son super knowledgeable. Worth every penny!

Fantastic tour and tasting at one kf the best champagne houses in epernay. Highly recommend if you…read morecan get a reservation.