Photo spot in Épernay & the Avenue de Champagne
Hautvillers and Dom Pérignon's abbey church
A hillside village of wrought-iron shop signs around the abbey church where Dom Pérignon is buried, with the Marne valley spread out below.
About Hautvillers and Dom Pérignon's abbey church
Get directionsHautvillers sits on the slope above the north bank of the Marne, five kilometres from Épernay, and it is the prettiest thing in the region. The village is known for its signs: dozens of wrought-iron brackets hang over the doors of the lanes, each one a small forged picture of the trade or the family behind it. They are a gift to a photographer — a ready-made foreground at head height wherever you point.
The abbey church of Saint-Sindulphe is at the top. Dom Pierre Pérignon was cellarer at the Benedictine abbey here from 1668 until his death in 1715, and his tomb slab is in the floor of the choir. The abbey buildings around it are private, but the church is open and free.
The real reason to come up is the view. The village looks south across vines to the river and the far slope, which means the light is with you all afternoon and the whole valley goes gold in the last hour. Walk two minutes out of the village on any of the marked vineyard paths and you have rows in the foreground and the valley behind, with nobody in the frame.
Parking is limited and the lanes are narrow; leave the car at the edge and walk. The vineyard parcels are private and worked — stay on the marked paths and headlands, and expect tractors on them from late September.
Best time to shoot
The last two hours of afternoon, when the valley below the village goes gold
Tips
Park at the edge of the village and walk — the lanes are narrow. The wrought-iron signs make a ready foreground at head height. Stay on the marked vineyard paths outside the village.
Other spots in Épernay & the Avenue de Champagne
The Avenue de Champagne
A straight kilometre of nineteenth-century champagne houses behind wrought-iron gates and clipped hedges, with the cellars running under the road.
The chalk cellars under Épernay
Galleries cut into solid chalk beneath the avenue, held at about ten degrees, with bottles stacked in the walls and lamps every few metres.
The Verzenay windmill above the vines
A brick tower mill standing alone on a bare knoll of grand cru vines, with the Champagne plain running flat to the horizon behind it.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know Hautvillers and Dom Pérignon's abbey church — free of charge.