This Nearly 200-Year-Old Champagne House Is Opening A New Hotel

Champagne Bollinger is known as one of the last great independent champagne houses and has been producing top-end champagne since 1829. A longtime favorite of the British royal family, this heritage brand will no doubt garner new fans with the opening of its first hotel on its estate in the village of Aÿ, where Bollinger was founded. Located on Rue de la Charte, the new hotel will inhabit Maison Dueil, the former home of Bollinger’s legendary matriarch Madame Elisabeth Bollinger, who took over the champagne house during WWII after the death of her husband.

Not much is known about the hotel yet, but it will include 20 bedrooms, a wellness area and pool. The paved courtyard and garden will be used as an event space to welcome oenophiles, and there will also be a shop, tasting rooms, a reception room for up to 200 people, and a second dining room opening up into the garden.

The new hotel is part of an initiative to celebrate the brand’s upcoming bicentenary in 2029, which will also include a wide-scale renovation at Bollinger’s historical cellar and the creation of a new cellar, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the vineyards, two new tasting rooms, and enough space to hold 5,000 228-liter barrels of bubbly. Bollinger is the only champagne house with an in-house cooper, who maintains and repairs the 4,000 barrels, some of which are over a century old, so this will remain a key fixture of the site.

Also in preparation for the upcoming anniversary, Bollinger has announced new commitments and initiatives focused on community and sustainability, including striving for international B Corp status in 2023; creating an in-house educational center; and reducing its carbon footprint via various means, including lowering the weight of individual bottles and swapping to recyclable packaging.

Work has already begun of the new wine tourism destination, but there’s no official opening date for the new hotel yet. In the meantime, visits can still be arranged by appointment at the Bollinger maison in Aÿ.