For the serious business of Reims, head to place des Droits-de-l'Homme and place St-Niçaise, near the Abbaye St-Remi. These are both within striking distance of a large number of the Reimsmaisons, most of which charge an entrance fee for their Tours but include a dégustation and have English guides. Only three can be visited without an appointment: the houses of Mumm, Taittinger and Piper-Heidsieck.The best of the regular guided tours is Mumm at 34 rue du Champ-de-Mars (March–Oct daily 9–11am & 2–5pm; Nov–Feb Mon–Fri same hours, Sat & Sun afternoons only; tour takes 45min; www.mumm.com; €5). Mumm is known by its red-slashed Cordon Rouge label, while its un-French-sounding name is the legacy of its founders – affluent German wine-makers from the Rhine Valley who established the business in 1827. The tour is fairly informal – you can wander freely about its cellar museum and throw questions at the approachable guides – though you pick up the basics from a pre-tour video. There's not a lot of walking despite 25km of cellars and a reported 35 million bottles of wine; some of the vintage bottles date from 1911. It all ends with a generous glass of either Cordon Rouge, the populist choice; the sweeter Cordon Vert; or their Extra Dry. At Taittinger, 9 place St-Niçaise (Mon–Fri 9.30am–noon & 2–4.30pm, Sat & Sun 9–11am & 2–5pm; Dec–Feb Mon–Fri only; tour takes 1hr; €5.50), there are still more ancient caves, with doodles and carvings added by more recent workers, and statues of St Vincent and St Jean, patron saints respectively of vignerons and cellar hands. Although founded in 1785, Piper-Heidsieck, at 51 bd Henry-Vasnier (March–Nov daily 9–11.45am & 2–5.15pm; Dec–Feb closed Tues & Wed; €6.50), is better known in the New World than the Old, having been the champagne of the American movie industry since first appearing – with Laurel and Hardy – in the 1934 classic Sons of the Desert. The champagne of the Oscars gives a fair amount of sponsorship for film prizes and festivals too, and really the only folk who'll get anything out of the tour – which ends up at a gallery of celebrity snaps – are confirmed film buffs and lovers of tackiness: the antique caves are toured by automatic five-seater car shuttle resembling a ghost train. Out of the darkness and timed to a cliché-ridden narration loom giant fibreglass grapes and vast hands armed with secateurs, or life-size badly proportioned lumpy figures positioned as cellar masters. You emerge to a glittering photo-studded foyer and a much-needed drink. Top of the list of appointment-only houses is the Maison Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, 1 place des Droits-de-l'Homme (tel 03.26.89.54.41; free). In 1805 the prematurely widowed Mme Clicquot not only took over her husband's business, but later bequeathed it to her business manager rather than to her children – both radical breaks with tradition. In keeping with this past, the maison is one of the least pompous and its video the best. The caves, with their horror-movie fungi, are old Gallo-Roman quarries. The House of Pommery, 5 place du Général-Gouraud (tel 03.26.61.62.55; €7.01), also has excavated Roman quarries for its cellars; it claims – in a case of good champagne oneupmanship – to have been the first to do so. Other appointment-only maisons are Ruinart, 4 rue des Crayères (tel 03.26.77.51.51; €8–20, depending on number of tastings), Charles Heidsieck, 4 bd Henry-Vasnier (tel 03.26.84.43.50; €6.50–10), and Lanson, 12 bd Lundy (tel 03.26.78.50.50; €5). Finally, to get an overview of the various champagnes available (plus wines from all over France), it's worth visiting La Vino Cave, 43 place Drouet-d'Erlon (Mon 2.30–7.30pm, Tues–Sat 9.30am–1pm & 2.30–7.30pm), where you can also buy all the paraphernalia of the bubbly business, from champagne flutes to snazzy servers.
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