Hautvillers

Hautvillers is, more than any other Premier Cru, the village wrapped around a single piece of historical real estate: the seventeenth-century abbey where Dom Pérignon worked as cellarmaster from 1668 to 1715. The Benedictine monastery has not been a religious site since the Revolution, and the buildings have belonged to Moët & Chandon for the better part of two centuries, used today as a hospitality and brand-history venue rather than a working monastery. Pérignon is buried in the abbey church. The village's vineyards are split between Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay on south-facing slopes above the Marne. Hautvillers remains the foundational symbol of Champagne's origin myth, even when the myth is partly that.