Grower or Big House: Choosing a Reims Champagne Tour

Every champagne tour from Reims makes one choice before any other: who pours your glass. It is a big house in its chalk cellars, a family grower at its own table, or one of each. This guide explains the difference, counts the glasses, and sorts the Reims Champagne guided tours by who pours, so you can pick the day that fits what you came for.

If you only read one section, read the second. The rest follows from it.

What separates a champagne house from a family grower?

A house buys grapes, musts or wines from growers across the region as well as growing its own. A grower makes champagne only from its own vines. Champagne counted 410 houses, 120 cooperatives and 16,460 growers in 2025, according to the Comité Champagne.

The houses are few, but they sell most of the bottles. Of the 266.1 million bottles shipped in 2025, the houses shipped 191.9 million and the cooperatives and growers 74.2 million.

So a house is a brand you have probably seen abroad, with deep cellars, a visitor centre and a set tour. A grower is a family business, making champagne from its own vines.

Who pours your glass at each?

At a house, the house's own guide leads you through its cellars and pours at the end. On the day with lunch at a grower's table, for example, Maison Mumm's guide takes you round before the day moves on to the villages.

At a grower, you are usually received in the family cellar, and the tasting is a conversation as much as a talk. À La Française, which runs the half days from the station square, sells them as visits to family-run wineries.

How many glasses does each kind of visit pour?

A house's entry-level visit pours one or two. Mumm's Cordon Rouge visit pours one, for EUR 30, and Pommery's two-hour visit pours two, for EUR 48. Ruinart's two-hour visit pours two cuvées for EUR 90.

A grower on a tour usually pours three. The morning and afternoon half days pour six glasses at two growers, and Sparkling Tour's private day pours ten at three. Where a listing gives a number, you will find it in the table below.

Which Reims tours visit growers only?

Every half day from the Reims station square pours at family growers, never at a big house. So do these full days and short visits:

• Sparkling Tour's private day, three family growers and ten champagnes, from $579 per person.
• À La Française's private growers day, two family wineries and lunch, from $661.
• Stéphane Demissy's private day, local producers across the Montagne de Reims, from $690.
• The Coutant family's vineyard visit, two hours from your Reims hotel, from $70 per person.
• The Club Trésors de Champagne tasting, growers' Spécial Club cuvées at a bar in town, from $57.

The half-day champagne tours from Reims set the morning, afternoon and e-bike departures side by side.

Which tours put a big house in the day?

From Reims, the shared way in is the Mumm day, which pairs Maison Mumm with two family producers, or Champagne Dream Tour's day, which spends 1 hour 45 minutes in Domaine Vranken-Pommery's cellars before lunch in Épernay.

The private days can take you to the famous names. France Intense books Veuve Clicquot, alone or with Moët & Chandon. Uncork books Moët & Chandon. Royal Journey France books one or two houses from Veuve Clicquot, Moët, Ruinart, Pommery and Taittinger, as each has a slot.

From Paris, the train day goes to Veuve Clicquot, Parismatic's car to Pommery, and Blue Fox Travel's minibus to Nicolas Feuillatte.

Can one day do both?

Yes, and for a first visit it is often the best answer. You taste a house's cuvée in its cellars, then a grower's wine at the family table, and the difference is easy to notice when the two come a few hours apart.

The shared way to do it is the Mumm and grower day, from $292 with lunch and seven glasses. The private ways are France Intense's Veuve Clicquot day with a family estate, Uncork's Moët & Chandon day with a boutique producer at Cumières, and Royal Journey France's famous-and-boutique day. From Paris, Blue Fox Travel, GO GO Tours and Parismatic each pair a small producer with a bigger name.

What does "subject to availability" mean for a house visit?

It means the operator books the house's cellar slot for you, but the house decides whether one is free on your date. France Intense says another great house may replace Veuve Clicquot. GO GO Tours adds a big house only when one has a slot. Royal Journey France picks its houses by availability.

The house calendars matter too. Veuve Clicquot's visit centre was closed from 28 December 2025 to 7 April 2026, and it opens every day only from 29 June to 30 August. If one house is the reason for your trip, name it when you book, and ask what happens if it is full.

How do you tell a grower's bottle from a house's?

Read the small code on the label. RM, récoltant-manipulant, means a grower who makes champagne only from its own grapes. NM, négociant-manipulant, means a house that buys grapes, musts or wines. RC, récoltant-coopérateur, means a grower who takes its wine back from a cooperative and sells it under its own name.

The rest of the label is the same for both. Brut means under 12 grams of sugar per litre, Extra-Brut 0 to 6, and Brut Nature under 3. A year on the label means a vintage, made only from that harvest; no year means a blend of years.

Is a cooperative a grower?

Not quite. A cooperative makes wine on its own premises, using its members' grapes. Its members are growers, but the wine is made together, not in each family's cellar.

The Club Trésors de Champagne is different again. It describes itself as an association of artisan growers founded in 1971, and its Spécial Club bottles are each member's own vintage cuvée.

Who should choose a big house?

• You want the chalk cellars. The big Reims houses keep their bottles in chalk pits, some of them UNESCO-listed. Ruinart's crayères are about 40 metres deep, and Mumm counts almost 25 km of cellars.
• You want a name you know. The houses ship most of the bottles sold abroad, so the label on your table at home is probably theirs.
• You are short of time. A house visit lasts one to two hours, and you can book it yourself for a set time.

Who should choose the growers?

• You want to meet the maker. A grower's tasting is a conversation with the family, in a small cellar, in a village among the vines.
• You want more glasses for your money. A half day pours six, from $140 per person; a house's entry-level visit pours one or two.
• You want to bring bottles home. You can usually buy at the end of the tasting, straight from the family that made the wine.

The full comparison

Every tour we list, sorted by who pours. Fares are per person unless the row says per group.

If you want the family table, pick from the top rows. If you want a house, look further down, and read the house's calendar before you book. Each house's own cellar tour is on the Reims champagne houses.

Frequently asked questions

Tours where you taste at both kinds of cellar

Private Full Day Tour - Visit of 3 Champagne Growers from Reims.

A private day with three family growers and ten champagnes, Hautvillers and a three-course lunch in Épernay, from the Reims station square at 9:30 am.

From $579 per person

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From Reims morning Champagne family growers

Two family-run wineries and six tastings in a morning, from the Reims station square at 9:20 am and back by 1:15 pm. Eight people at most; lunch is yours.

From $140 per person

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Luxury Champagne Tour(All Included): 2 Famous Houses & Restaurant

A private chauffeur-guide for the day, two famous houses chosen by their availability, and lunch, collected in the Reims or Épernay area.

From $848 per person

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