If you are organizing this trip or you are just thinking about it, you are wondering which wineries to visit in the Champagne area.

The answer as always is: it depends on what interests you.

Do you want to know everything about Champagne?
If you want to know everything about Champagne we recommend you take part in a guided tour in one of the great Maison of one of the two capitals of Champagne, Reims the official one and Épernay the self-proclaimed one.

Whichever Maison you choose, from Moët & Chandon to Veuve Cliquot, you will always fall well. Each Maison offers a guided tour with one or more final tastings, I advise you to buy the cheapest tour (often includes a tasting anyway) and save money to sip more Champagne around the two cities.

Which Maison to choose?
The big Maison are all located in the Champagne area between Reims and Épernay.

Probably almost all the Maison, which organize guided tours, would deserve a visit but they are all paid and I sincerely prefer to spend the money on glasses of Champagne rather than on visits to the cellars.

We have chosen two. Partly starting from the name, partly on the suggestion of friends, we went from Taittinger to Reims and from Moët & Chandon to Épernay.

The tours take place a bit ‘all the same way: presentation of the company with stories and historical anecdotes about the family, visit the cellars with adjoining lesson about types of grapes used and the various stages of production of Champagne as the riddling , the dosage and the dégorgement .

Between the two Maison visited what we have seen is that Moët & Chandon is a step forward, not for the quality of Champagne which is already very high, but for the qualities of corporate marketing.

Unlike Taittinger who takes you to the tasting in the lobby where you wait before leaving for the visit. Moët & Chandon no, they have a dedicated room for tasting with a golden logo behind the sommeliers in order to give everyone the opportunity to take a photo in front of Moët & Chandon, the great ones! Who is it that didn’t take a picture in front of that brand? We too!

South Africa is the seventh country for wine production in the world and is predominantly appearing on the world market.

Among the things to see in Cape Town and the surrounding area , you cannot miss a day to spend in the Winelands, the beautiful valleys lined with vineyards and estates.

The centerpiece is the area around the town with the Dutch features of Stellenbosch and the nearby, and more “French”, Franschhoek .

Even for those who are not experts or wine lovers, this daily excursion from Cape Town (the distance is only 35 km) has its reason.

The estates are quite different from the wineries we are used to in Italy: they are luxury cottages or buildings, with refined and trendy details, often in positions that offer wonderful views.

In addition to the sale and traditional wine tastings, many of these offer restaurants and spas. In short, my advice is to “get lost” on the streets and stop at the sign or the estate that most inspires you: even the eye wants its part and, in these parts, it will not be dissatisfied.

Unless otherwise indicated, they can all be visited with paid tastings.

In this post I review the ones I saw. They are all quite different from one another, you go from the small mountain house among the flowers, to a large Dutch-style estate that takes you back centuries ago to a luxury villa with elegant pianist who cheers the tastings.

Tastings are cheap: 2 or 3 euros per glass . The only drawback is that, apart from a few cases, there is no custom of bringing appetizers to accompany. To prevent the blood alcohol level from rising too high, you can, however, in many of these establishments, order platters of cheese or dishes to accompany your drinks.