La loge de Jo'
Bed and breakfast

Hautvillers is well-known thanks to a monk called Dom Pérignon, who was equally famous and mysterious, and who used to live there. Dom Pérignon’s name is associated with the exploitation of the vines and the production of wines that contributed to the wealth of the monastery in the 17th century. More than a century later, due to sketchy sources and the lack of written evidence from the man himself, a legend developped around him as the inventor of champagne. After stopping up flasks of white wine with airtight corks made of bees’ wax, the tale goes that he thus caused a second fermentation to take place due to sugar flowing out. That was how the effervescence and the bubbles that are peculiar to the wines of Champagne were allegedly born. The true genius of the monk resided in his ability to assemble the best grapes from different varieties of vines. His science, which is still admired today, is what put the abbey’s wines on royal tables and built their reputation for excellence.