Our Signature Journey
Next Departure
October 11th-16th, 2027
An Insider's Invitation to Champagne. Five nights inside the houses, cellars, and tables that have come to define A Vine Affair.
Limited to eight guests · By application.
Champagne is a popular destination for visitors. But, to experience it from the inside is something else entirely.
This is our signature journey — refined over years of returning to the same houses, the same cellars, the same long tables in private dining rooms.
It is the trip we have built our reputation on, and the trip our guests come back from changed. Six houses across five unhurried nights. Two of our most beloved restaurants in the region. Mornings that begin with fog over the vineyards and end with the soft sound of corks at second-bottle dinners. The houses we have befriended over the years open privately for us — not because money changes hands, but because trust does. You will leave Champagne understanding it. You will leave understanding how the best of it is made, by whom, and why it matters. You will also leave with eight people who shared the same week with you — some of whom will remain friends long after the bottles are emptied. This is the trip we host most often, and the trip we love hosting most.
The Week- The rhythm of the journey.
The pace of the week is unhurried. We do not run from house to house. Mornings are slow. Afternoons are open. The unscheduled hours are where the trip actually lives. What follows is the shape of the week as it has taken form in our recent journeys. The specific houses, the specific chefs, the specific conversations confirm themselves in the months before departure, as the people who host us reveal their own calendars. This is not how a tour is planned. This is how a journey among friends is composed. We would not want it any other way.
Arrival Private transfer from Paris to our home for the week — a Palace-classified hotel set among the vineyards above Épernay. Welcome aperitif and an informal dinner among ourselves.
Day One A long lunch with one of the most respected grand maisons, hosted in their private dining room. Afternoon at our own pace. Dinner in the ancient Gallo-Roman cellars of a house whose name you know well.
Day Two A morning with a grower we have known for years — vineyard walking, cellar tasting, lunch from his own kitchen. Quiet afternoon. Dinner back at the hotel, at the Michelin-starred restaurant.
Day Three The signature day. A five-course lunch at one of the most storied houses in the region, followed by a late-afternoon vineyard visit with one of our favorite biodynamic producers. Dinner at a beloved family estate, with the family.
Day Four A morning with another grand maison — visit, tasting, lunch. Afternoon for the spa, or for one's own walking, or for nothing at all. A final dinner together, longer than planned, as the best dinners are.
Departure Slow morning. Private transfer back to Paris, with a parting bottle and the case of champagne to follow.
The Royal Champagne Hotel
Set on the hillside above Épernay, with a wide-open view of the Champagne hills and the valley below, Royal Champagne holds France's Palace classification — a distinction granted to fewer than thirty hotels in the entire country. Our guests stay in Royal Junior Suites — upper floor, each with a private balcony, each with the view that has come to define the hotel. The destination spa, the Michelin-starred Le Royal restaurant, the infinity pool looking out over the vines — all of it sits a few steps from your suite. You will spend five nights here. You will not want to leave.
The Houses
The Maisons that open privately for us.
The houses we visit are houses we know personally. Some are among the most celebrated grand Maisons in Champagne. Some are family growers whose names you may not yet know, but will not forget after this week. In any given year, our journey includes some combination, but not limited to the producers below:
Krug
Louis Roederer
Charles Heidsieck
Dom Perignon
Ruinart
Billecart-Salmon
Frerejean Frères
Famille Mousse
Pierre Paillard
Leclerc Briant
Herveaux-Dumez
Gimonnet
Geoffroy
The specific itinerary is confirmed privately with our guests in the months before departure.
How We Work
A journey composed, not booked.
The experiences we curate with our partners are not on a published calendar. They cannot be booked through an agent. They open privately for us because we have spent years earning their trust — and because the people who run them respond to people they know, not to forms submitted twelve months in advance.
This is the trade-off of authentic insider access in Champagne: we cannot promise you, today, the exact dinner you will sit down to in October 2027.
We can promise you the people you will sit down to it with. We can promise you the houses that have opened privately for us, year after year.
And we can promise you the quality and rhythm of the journey, which our past guests will attest to.The shape of the week is set.
The specifics are confirmed in the months before departure, as our hosts in Champagne reveal their own calendars to us. This is how the most considered travel in Champagne actually works. We would not want it any other way, and we believe — once you have travelled with us — neither will you.
WHAT IS INCLUDED
— Five nights at Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa, in the Royal Junior Suite with a private balcony
— All hosted dinners and lunches with champagne pairings, including the Michelin-starred experiences
— Private visits and tastings at the houses confirmed in your finalized itinerary
— All luxury ground transport throughout Champagne and round-trip private transfer from Paris Airports or city center.
— Documentary photography throughout your journey with a memory book of your week, delivered to your home in the weeks following the trip.
— Gratuity for ground staff and experiences
— A personally curated case of champagne, 12 bottles reflecting the houses we visited and the experiences we had.
— Personal hosting and curation by Gina Lyons throughout.
— Personal concierge from the moment you book with us, including additional travel services for those continuing travel in Europe.
What is Not Included
— International flights to Paris (although our concierge team can assist with bookings.
— Travel insurance (strongly recommended and can be purchased through us if preferred)
— Personal incidentals— Any private experiences arranged outside the group itinerary (our concierge team are pleased to assist with any experiences you wish)