Located between Reims and Epernay, the Champagne road winds through the vineyards. The size of the Champagne vineyard is 33,344 hectares classified as a controlled or protected label of origin (AOC/AOP). Three hundred and forty companies produce champagne there; 300 million bottles are produced each year. Although the Romans planted the first vines in the region, it was the great abbeys of the Middle Ages that developed the cultivation and reputation of the Champagne vineyards.