Pommery Cellars

Pommery is the showpiece of Reims champagne, built in the nineteenth century by Madame Pommery, a widow who turned an inherited wine business into one of the great houses. The estate stands near the cathedral on the edge of the city, a collection of grand buildings in an English-inspired Gothic style, reflecting the British taste for dry champagne that made her fortune. Underneath lie about eighteen kilometres of galleries cut from Gallo-Roman chalk quarries, reached by a monumental stair of more than a hundred steps. Down below, the walls carry carvings and the house shows a huge barrel holding around 75,000 litres, plus contemporary art installed in the tunnels each year.

The architecture is the first surprise. Madame Pommery commissioned a campus of buildings that look more like a country estate than a winery, and the setting is part of the reason the visit is popular with those who want to be impressed. The staircase down is theatrical, and at the bottom the galleries open into a network of corridors linking former quarries.

Sculptures and carvings, some very old, line the walls, and the house uses the space for an art programme that changes over time, so the visit feels part gallery and part cellar. The history of Madame Pommery, who built the brand and pushed the dry style known as brut, is told along the way.

Tastings are the finish. A small-group day tour such as the one linked here typically combines a visit to Pommery with other stops in the vineyards or at family growers, and is a good way to see a large house and a small producer side by side. Pommery cuvées tend to be crisp and food-friendly, and the house usually offers a few tasting levels.

If you only have time for one big house in Reims, Pommery is a strong candidate because it offers scale, history and a cellar that looks different from the others, which is useful if you plan to visit more than one.

Access for those who cannot manage stairs can be limited, so ask the house before you book. For families, check the age policy on tastings, and for groups with a driver, arrange a designated person or use a guided tour with transport.

The art programme is worth a pause. Each year the house invites artists to respond to the galleries, and the works range from sculpture to light installations, so there is something different to see on repeat visits. Even without the art, the carvings on the chalk walls, some depicting scenes from the history of the region, are impressive. Take your time on the staircase and look at the scale of the vaults as you descend. After the tasting, spend a few minutes in the grounds, which frame the main buildings.

For the best experience, treat Pommery as an architecture visit as much as a tasting. Look up at the brick and stone buildings before you go down, and notice how the estate was laid out to impress customers in an age when champagne was a luxury for royalty and the rich. When you come back up, spend a few minutes comparing the nineteenth-century style with the modern hospitality area, and ask the guide how the cellars have been adapted for visitors without losing their character.