The loveliest of Epernay's streets is avenue de Champagne, running east from the central place de la République. Dubbed "the most drinkable street in the world" by champagne-lover Winston Churchill, it's worth a stroll for its impressive eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mansions and champagne maisons.The largest, and probably the most famous maison of all, but not the most beautiful, is Moët et Chandon, 18 av de Champagne (daily 9.30–11.30am & 2–4.30pm; mid-Nov to March Mon–Fri only; €7 including dégustation of the brut Impérial), which owns Mercier, Ruinart and a variety of other concerns, including Dior perfumes. By its own reckoning, a Moët champagne cork pops somewhere in the world every two seconds. The cellars are adorned with mementos of Napoléon, a good friend of the original M. Moët. True to tradition, the bottles are still turned by hand, a process of remuage (riddling) explained in detail by the guide; by the time you reach the generous dégustation you appreciate why the stuff costs so much. Of the other maison visits, one of the most rewarding is Mercier, 70 av de Champagne (Mon–Fri 9.30–11.30am & 2–4.30pm, Sat & Sun 9.30–11.30am & 2–5pm; Dec–Feb closed Tues & Wed; €6, including dégustation), whose glamour relic is a giant barrel that held 200,000 bottles' worth when M. Mercier took it to the 1889 Paris Exposition, with the help of 24 oxen – only to be upstaged by the Eiffel Tower. Visits round the cellars are by electric train and are great fun, climaxing in dégustation. Esterlin, at 25 av de Champagne (daily 10am–12.30pm & 1.45–5pm; €3) show you a ten-minute video on the painstaking process of making champagne followed by a dégustation. Castellane, by the station at 57 rue de Verdun (April–Oct daily 10am–noon & 2–6pm; €6, including dégustation), provides Epernay with its chief landmark: a tower looking like a kind of Neoclassical signal box. As well as the inevitable cellars, the visit takes in a rather good museum displaying bottles and their labels, publicity posters, old tools and tableaux of champagne-making and related processes. Best of all, you get to climb to the top of the tower, which allows unsurpassed views of the town and surrounding vineyards. Epernay has many other grandes maisons that can be visited by appointment, but perhaps more worthwhile are the many smaller houses. Two which offer tours with dégustation are located on rue Chaude-Ruelle, west of avenue de Champagne, with views over the town: Janisson-Baradon, at no. 65 (tel 03.26.54.45.85; €4), and Leclerc-Briant, at no. 67 (tel 03.26.54.45.33; €4.57).
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