Unique visits to fine sparkling wine houses

The wine school at Langlois-Château

This house, founded in the 19th century, has tuffeau stone cellars nestled into the hillside, inside which it offers a 300-metre circuit followed by an introduction to vinification in the cellar rooms and a tasting in the vault. Before all that, visitors are invited to enjoy a gentle introduction to the main principles of oenology with a talk held within the walls of an old school building, in a classroom!

The monumental works at Ackerman

The grande dame of Saumur's fine sparkling wine houses, Ackerman is particularly fond of contemporary art. This means that a tour of the cellars not only reveals the history of the company and its vinification methods, but also takes visitors on a discovery of the artworks scattered here and there. Created by incredibly imaginative artists, some of them are astonishingly large...

Winemaking secrets at Veuve Amiot

As well as exploring 5 km of underground galleries where the various bottles by Veuve Amiot are kept, guests also have access to annex buildings where they can see watch winemakers perform the tasks of bottling, disgorgement and labelling. This unique format, available Monday to Thursday, feels like an actual company tour! Also on offer are sensory tours by candlelight.

The sculptures at Gratien & Meyer

As well as offering one of the finest views of the Loire, the cellars at the Gratien & Meyer estate are home to sculptures made out of the tuffeau stone by the artist Christophe Allier. These depict "perreyeurs" or stone workers, bunches of grapes and a giant bottle. Dramatised tours and concerts are also organised throughout the year, with even a small festival called Jazz Bulles.

The cycle tour at Bouvet-Ladubay

Get on your retro bike to explore the troglodyte tunnels where Bouvet-Ladubay stores its precious bottles. This enchanting 1.5-hour tour over a total of 2 km invites cyclists to descend up to forty metres underground while enjoying commentary from a guide and discovering the stone fragments from the strange underground cathedral created for the site by artist Philippe Cormand...

The discovery space at Louis de Grenelle

Saumur's last independent fine sparkling wine cellar invites curious visitors to descend 12 metres underground, where 4 million bottles lie sleeping! They then enter a fun discovery space to learn about the thousand-and-one aspects of winemaking through elements such as the winemaker's calendar or the circle of aromas. A tasting with commentary to finish gives visitors an introduction to the different varieties of Saumur wines and Crémant de Loire produced on site.