The champagne year sets your dates more than the weather. The houses shorten their weeks in winter, the tourist office closes early, and the harvest arrived in August this year. Pick your month here, then make your Epernay booking.
Here is the year, band by band: which houses open, when the tourist office opens, and what else is on. The office opens 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to its closing time.
| When | The houses | Tourist office | Also |
|---|---|---|---|
| January–February | Moët & Chandon every day; Mercier outside its calendar | Monday–Saturday, closes 16:30 | The quietest weeks; frost on about 11 nights a month |
| March | Moët & Chandon every day; museum on winter hours | Monday–Saturday, closes 17:30 | Winter hours end at the museum on 31 March |
| April | Mercier every day from 6 April; museum on summer hours | Monday–Saturday to 17:30, and Sundays | The driest month |
| May–June | Every house on its longest calendar | May every day to 18:00; June to 17:30 | The Esprit de Champagne shuttle runs |
| July | Every house open | Every day, 9:30–18:00 | Soirée Blanche on the avenue, 14 July |
| August | Every house open | Every day, 9:30–18:00 | Harvest 2026 opened on 17 August in Epernay |
| September–October | Every house open; Mercier every day | September every day; October Monday–Saturday and Sundays | Heritage Days, 19–20 September 2026 |
| November | Mercier every day to 15 November, then Wednesday–Sunday | Monday–Saturday, closes 16:30 | Museum on winter hours from 1 November |
| December | Mercier Wednesday–Sunday to 27 December | Monday–Saturday, closes 16:30 | Habits de Lumière, 11–13 December |
Monthly temperatures and rain are on Epernay weather. The house prices and addresses are on champagne houses in Epernay.
If you picture the harvest in September, this year proves otherwise. The Comité Champagne sets an opening date for each village and each grape, and in 2026 the first came in mid-August:
| Village | Harvest opened, 2026 | On which tours |
|---|---|---|
| Chouilly, Cramant, Oger | 14 August | The Côte des Blancs grower tours |
| Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Mutigny, Avenay-Val-d'Or | 14 August | The e-bike day |
| Hautvillers | 15 August | Almost every grower tour |
| Epernay and Pierry | 17 August | Vollereaux's cellar hour, the town |
Champagne.fr still gives September as the usual month, and in some years it is. So check the Comité's dates for your year before you plan around the picking.
During the harvest the growers are busy, and the villages are full of pickers. The tours still run. You may meet a family in the middle of its busiest week.
A month later come the European Heritage Days, on 19 and 20 September 2026. That weekend de Castellane runs its heritage tour, with the label room and two cuvées, at EUR 35 instead of EUR 60. Book it with the house by email or phone.
The grower tours go out to the villages where the picking happens, and the small vans fill first in harvest weeks.
From May to September the tourist office opens every day, 9:30 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00. Every house keeps its longest calendar. The museum opens 11:00 to 19:00, and the Esprit de Champagne shuttle runs from May to October.
On 14 July the avenue holds the Soirée Blanche. The tourist office changes its hours for it, so check before you go. Book early if your dates are fixed, because July and August fill the small vans first.
Video-mapping and shows along the Avenue de Champagne, 11 and 12 December 2026. This is the 26th edition.
Chefs and houses take part on the Saturday. Moët & Chandon sells a Habits de Lumière dinner at EUR 520, 4 hours 15.
The tourist office changes its hours for the festival. Stay in town if you can, because the shows run into the evening. See where to stay in Epernay.
From November to March you choose from fewer days:
The cellars feel the same in January as in July. So a winter day in town works. It is the villages that feel the cold.
April is the turn of the year. Mercier opens every day from 6 April, and the museum switches to its summer hours on 1 April. The tourist office adds Sundays from April.
April is also the driest month at the vineyard station, with about 46 mm of rain. So for a quiet day in the vines before the summer crowds, April and May are your months.
Harvest dates are the Comité Champagne's, commune by commune. House calendars come from each house, the tourist office's hours from its own page, and the festival dates from Habits de Lumière.
Noon to about 5:15 pm from the tourist office: a village above the Marne, lunch with champagne in Aÿ and a family producer's cellar. Five champagnes, eight people at most.
From $257 per person
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Five hours on an electric bike through the vines above Aÿ, with lunch, two champagnes, a red wine and a ratafia at a family domain. From 9:35 am in town.
From $218 per person
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A full day from the Reims station at 9:20 am: three family estates, nine glasses and lunch at a local restaurant, with a drive along the Epernay avenue.
From $292 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: check the month on Epernay weather, plan the trip on the visitor guide, or compare every tour on Epernay Tours.