Épernay is a sub-prefecture of the Marne, on the left bank of the river Marne, some thirty kilometres from Reims. With around 22 000 inhabitants, the town grew around the vineyard and the champagne trade, of which it is one of the capitals, alongside Reims. Its economy and its identity remain closely tied to the champagne houses and to the vineyard slopes above it.
The avenue de Champagne holds that history. Lined with private mansions and nineteenth-century champagne houses - Moët & Chandon, Mercier, Perrier-Jouët -, it shelters the cellars dug into the chalk where millions of bottles age. The slopes, houses and cellars of Champagne have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2015. The centre is laid out around the town hall and its park, the shopping streets and the station, a few minutes' walk from the avenue.
The town spread over the slopes above it and along the Marne, keeping a fabric of town houses, detached houses and apartment buildings. The station, on the Paris-Strasbourg line, links Épernay to Reims and to Paris. The property market carries the mark of it: moderate prices by national standards, carried by local demand and by the appeal of the vineyard and the heritage.
