Hautvillers Abbey

The Abbey of Saint-Pierre at Hautvillers is a Benedictine abbey founded in 650 CE. Most of the medieval buildings were destroyed during the French Revolution; what stands today is largely an 18th-century reconstruction, now owned by Moët & Chandon and used for storage of champagne. The abbey church, however, is open and contains the tomb of Dom Perignon — a simple black marble slab set in the floor before the altar that has become a genuine pilgrimage site for wine lovers.

The abbey is visible from the village and the church can be entered during visiting hours. The cellar master's actual workspace — the vaulted cellars — is not generally open to the public, but Moët & Chandon organises occasional visits. Even without the cellars, the church and the dom's tomb repay the trip.

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A story
Dom Perignon, the cellar master at Hautvillers from 1668 until his death in 1715, did not invent champagne — sparkling wine already existed — but he was the first to master blending grapes from different vineyards to create a more consistent product, and he helped develop the heavy glass bottles and cork stoppers that could contain the pressure. Legend has it that when he first tasted his sparkling creation he cried out to his fellow monks: "Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!" Historians believe this story was invented nearly 200 years after his death.