small champange houses

I will be visiting reims / epernay in november for a few days and am looking for smaller champange houses to tour and taste - not Moet etc.... Anyone have some good recommendations

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If you rent a car and follow the route du Champagne- which is basically a country road that wanders through many villages and vineyards you will stumble upon a vast group of both small producers and some well known names. My favorite is one that is pretty well known, called Duetz. There are countless others to explore for sure.

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HI

Try Richard-Fliniaux, very friendly and welcoming, small family business. Lovely champagne.

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Hi

Try Richard-fliniaux, they are a small family champagne house, but are very welcoming, hospitable and the champagne is good as well.

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By the way it%26#39;s in Ay and has a website.

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Hi, if you have a car I%26#39;d recomend you follow the signposted champagne route between epernay and reims. It depends on which sort of champagne you prefer; by that I mean that if you want a 100% chardonnay grand cru champagne, then the villages on the cote de blancs (oger and mesnil sur oger) are your best bet. You can get a fantastic bottle of grand cru for 15 euros. There are 2 houses in oger that offer guided tours.

If you prefer the pinot noir style, then i%26#39;d recommend the route nearer reims, I think its the A26, but again its signposted. The village of Mailly is Grand Cru and you can get a rare 100% pinot noir champagne for 18 euros. Canard Duchene do a good tour in the next village (Ludes)

I hope this helps, but please let me know if you need more info, as I travel regularly to this area.

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Hi Sandra,

I didn%26#39;t start this post but I do have a question for you since you travel the Champagne area. I will be in Troyes for five days in October. My husband and I will not have a car. Can you recommend the best way to get around (from Troyes to Epernay)? The train from Troyes goes through Paris which is out of the way. Also can you recommend any good walking or biking tours? Thanks very much for your help!

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I would recommend visiting Billecart-Salmon in Mareuil-sur-Ay. It is a very distinguished and distinctive house. Visits are Mon-Fri by appointment. You can contact the maison via their Website:

http://www.champagne-billecart.fr/

In Epernay, although maybe a bigger house than you want to visit, Perrier-Jouet has a very good personalized tour and excellent collections. My husband and I had a tour with 2 friends one Easter Weekend, by appointment, with the charming and knowledgable, Sandrine.

Sante!