Les Crayères, Fine dining establishment in Reims, France.
Les Crayères is a classical château in Reims that now operates as a luxury hotel and restaurant. The property contains guest rooms, a fine dining restaurant, event spaces, and gardens, all housed within a building that retains its original architectural details from earlier centuries.
Jeanne Alexandrine Pommery bought the Crayères estate around 1885 and had Édouard André lay out the park first; the château itself was built between 1902 and 1904 by architect Théodore Dauphin for her daughter Louise, Marquise de Polignac. Damaged in the First World War, it was restored to the original plans by 1920, and the Germans built a bunker at the foot of the park during the Second World War. The Gardinier family, owners since 1979, converted it into a hotel and restaurant in 1983.
The château's name comes from the crayères, the chalk quarries beneath the Saint-Nicaise hill that were dug out to build the champagne cellars. Each year since 2010 the estate has held a producers' market in late September, drawing around forty local producers and more than 6,000 visitors. Since 2011 the Soirée Blanche has brought over 3,000 guests into the park for an evening of music and light shows.
The estate sits at 64 boulevard Henri-Vasnier on the Saint-Nicaise hill, with the park enclosed by a high wall that hides it from the street. The Brasserie Le Jardin occupies the former stables at the back of the garden and is reached from avenue du Général-Giraud. The park hosts a producers' market each year at the end of September.
The wine list holds 9,000 bottles of champagne from 530 houses, recognised in 2021 as the Best Champagne List in Europe by World Fine Wine. A vineyard owned by the Pommery house stands inside the estate walls. The New York Times called the hotel the most beautiful in the world in 2007.
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