A saunter from Rilly-la-Montagne to Reims
Rilly-la-Montagne is a charming little village on the east side of the Montagne de Reims, one of Champagne’s sub-regions, the other main sub-regions being Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs.
Rilly is most easily accessed through a local train that travels between Champagne’s two main towns of Épernay and Reims. If you start in Épernay, the train first travels in an easterly direction, before swinging back to the north and looping around the Montagne de Reims. It passes through the villages of Rilly-la-Montagne, Germaine, Avenay-Val-d’Or and Ay.
This train trip is very much worth taking to get a feel for the Montagne de Reims, and to deepen your understanding of the Champagne region. It takes you through the Tunnel de Rilly, which was built for trains, but was used by the Germans as a factory in World War 2 and bombed by the Allies in 1944.
The Montagne de Reims is located in the most northern part of the Champagne AOC, with most of the vines sitting on south-facing slopes. It is arguably the most famous of Champagne’s sub-regions, with more Grand Cru sites than any of the other sub-regions. Pinot Noir is the main grape cultivated, though Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier are also planted.
Rilly-la-Montagne, where we started our walk, has a lovely Romanesque-style Église St. Nicolas which dates to the 12th century. It is one of the oldest villages of the Montagne de Reims, and was partially destroyed by the World War 2 bombardments of 1944.
The walk from Rilly-la-Montagne to Reims begins as a wonderful saunter across the vineyards, as you can see in the photos. On the day of our walk, in March 2022, the viticulteurs were hard at work pruning their vines.
As we found, viticulteurs are usually quite friendly, and are happy to talk about their work and wines. At this time of the year, they are always nervous about the weather, as rain, frost or even snow can destroy their grapes. The second half of the walk was less pleasant as we had to struggle through the main roads and suburbs of Reims, before reaching Reims train station.
We would recommend doing a loop through the vineyards and coming back to Rilly-la-Montagne, before catching the local train back to either Reims or Epernay.
Links
Rilly-la-Montagne
Champagne village profile: Rilly-la-Montagne, a premier cru village in the Grande Montagne de Reims
5 Top Champagne Houses in Reims, France
Logistics
Train from Paris to Epernay, then local train to Rilly-la- Montagne