How to visit Bollinger in Aÿ

In short: visiting Bollinger

Bollinger in Aÿ welcomes visitors by appointment. You join the free 1829 programme and book a tour of about two hours in its app. Tours run on weekdays and Saturdays until September. Royal Champagne in Champillon, around four kilometres away, is our first choice for a night nearby.

Last checked: November 2026.

The house in Aÿ

Bollinger is one of the few great champagne houses still in family hands. It was founded in Aÿ in 1829, and the village matters to the story as much as the bottles. Aÿ sits on a slope given over largely to pinot noir, and Bollinger grows a share of its own grapes.

The house's best-known figure is Lily Bollinger, who ran it for three decades after her husband's death in 1941. By the house's own account she cycled round the Aÿ vineyards. She is also the source of one of the most quoted lines about champagne, about drinking it when she was happy and when she was sad.

British visitors may know the house from the cinema. James Bond has ordered Bollinger in a string of films, and the tour includes a section on the partnership.

How to book a visit

Bollinger has no open tasting room and does not take walk-ins. Visits are by appointment, booked in advance.

• Join 1829: the programme is free. The app is reached through the QR code on Bollinger's website.

• Choose a tour in the app: tours last about two hours and finish with a tasting. The main difference between them is how many wines you taste.

• Book early: from May to October, allow several weeks. There are rarely more than two tours a day.

• Arrive on time: more than 15 minutes late and you may be turned away.

Tours are in French and English. In autumn and winter they do not run at weekends, so plan a weekday if you travel outside summer.

What you see

The tour takes you into the chalk cellars, where the bottles age at a steady temperature. This is also where the house keeps its RD wines, which spend years in the cellar before they are corked.

Bollinger also tends a small plot of pinot noir on its own roots. The vines were never grafted after phylloxera swept through Europe in the 19th century, and the wine from them is called Vieilles Vignes Françaises. You may not see the plot or taste the wine, as the rarest bottles tend to be kept for trade visits.

Getting there

From London, take the Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord and walk about ten minutes to Gare de l'Est. The train to Épernay takes around an hour and a quarter. Aÿ has its own station, but a taxi from Épernay takes about ten minutes. If you are tasting, you are not driving.

Where to stay

Royal Champagne Hôtel & Spa

On the slope above Champillon, about four kilometres from Aÿ. The terraces look down over the vines and the Marne valley. There is a spa, an indoor and an outdoor pool, and Le Royal, a restaurant with one Michelin star.

Best when you want the evening after the tasting to match the day.

Loisium Wine & Spa Hotel Champagne

In Mutigny, on the hill just above Aÿ, a modern building with a spa, an outdoor pool, a bar and the L'Horisium restaurant. The vineyards begin outside the door.

Best for the shortest trip to Bollinger, and for travellers who prefer a new hotel to an old one.

Hôtel Margaux

If you would rather stay in Épernay and taxi across the river, Hôtel Margaux occupies a former presbytery a minute from the Avenue de Champagne, with 27 rooms, a bar and a garden.

Best for combining Bollinger with the Épernay houses in one weekend. See more in our guide to Épernay hotels.

Sources

Visiting rules and the 1829 programme come from Champagne Bollinger and the guide at En Primeur Club. Lily Bollinger's story and the Vieilles Vignes Françaises are described by Bollinger. Hotel details come from Hotels.com. Check times in the app before you travel.