EPERNAY (the ancient Aquee Perennes), the chief town of a French arrondissement in the department of the Marne, is situated on the left bank of the Marne, at the extremity of a beautiful and fertile valley on the line of railway between Paris and Strasburg, 20 miles W.N.W. of Chalons, and 75 miles east of Paris. The town is neatly built, and in its suburbsare many handsome villas, inhabited chiefly by rich wine merchants. It is best known as the principal entrepot of the Champagne wines, which are kept here bottled in extensive vaults in the chalk rock on which the town is built. Among its other industries may be named the spinning and weaving of wool, printing, stocking-making, tanning, brandy-making, and the manufacture of chemicals. The principal buildings are the town-house, in which is a public library with 15,000 volumes, the palace of justice, the theatre, and the parish church, built in the Italian style, and containing some fine stained glass windows. The population in 1872 was 12,877.

Epernay was burned by Francis I. in 1545, to prevent Charles V. obtaining possession of its wine stores. It resisted Henry of Navarre in 1592, and Marshal Biron fell in the attack which preceded its capture. In 1642 it was, along with Chateau-Thierry, erected into a duchy, and assigned to the duke of Bouillon.