The French name for Champagne’s underground chalk quarries used as ageing cellars is “crayères.”
These excavated spaces are especially famous beneath Reims, where centuries of quarrying created deep, cool and humid galleries. Champagne bottles can age there in conditions that change little through the seasons. Darkness, stable temperature and humidity are valuable for long bottle maturation.
The quarries originally supplied building stone, including chalk used in construction. Champagne producers later adapted them for wine storage, turning an industrial resource into part of the region’s winemaking infrastructure. Some networks extend many metres below the city and contain millions of bottles.
Crayères are not the same as pupitres. A pupitre is a rack used for riddling bottles, while a crayère is a quarry or cellar space. Several Reims Champagne houses maintain celebrated crayères, and the underground cellars contribute to the city’s cultural heritage and UNESCO recognition.