The exterior of the Hôtel du Marc, Maison Veuve Clicquot’s stately home in Reims, France.
When people talk about Maison Veuve Clicquot, they’re generally referring to the venerable 240-year-old French Champagne company known for its yellow-orange label.
As it turns out, the bubbly brand also boasts a literal maison all its own: L’Hôtel du Marc, a 19th-century mansard-roofed Roman-stone pile in the Champagne capital of Reims, France, just a 45-minute train ride from Paris’s Gare de l’Est.
The maison’s grand entry.
Built in 1840, the haute home survived both world wars surprisingly unscathed, but the ensuing passage of time proved to be less kind. In 2007 luxury group LVMH, which acquired the label in 1986, commissioned a four-year-long top-to-bottom redo, overseen by in-demand Paris architect and designer Bruno Moinard.
A crystal chandelier, frescoes depicting life in Champagne, and black wood paneling conspire to create a dramatic formal dining room on the ground floor.
At once classical and contemporary, Moinard’s scheme preserves the feeling of the building as a historic family home while at the same time featuring artwork and design pieces by such present-day creative talents as Hervé Van der Straeten, Yayoi Kusama, the Campana brothers, Mathieu Lehanneur, and Pablo Reinoso.
Cadre de Vie, an installation by Pablo Reinoso, dominates the second-floor landing.
But now the bad news: L’Hôtel du Marc is a hotel in name only. Visits are reserved exclusively for friends, family, and business associates of the brand. With one petite exception, that is. On June 15 and 16, as part of LVMH’s biennial heritage-celebrating event, the estate will open its doors to the public for guided tours of its grand ground-floor spaces as well as demonstrations of classic French cookery and table-service techniques. And, needless to say, there will be light canapés to nibble and flutes of Veuve Clicquot to quaff.
We’ll drink to that.
At 18 rue du Marc, Reims, France; lesjourneesparticulieres.com
A custom-made stainless-steel wine cooler holds rare vintages of the house’s bubbly.
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