Last year, Belmond, the well-known hotel, rail and river cruise company now owned by LVMH, the French luxury goods conglomerate, introduced a new way to visit the Champagne region. From March through October, the Belmond Pivoine (“pivoine” means “peony” in French), a 128-foot barge with an English-speaking staff of six and four impressively light and spacious cabins, a lounge, a dining room, a deck terrace and a heated outdoor plunge pool, plies the waters of the Marne river and the Canal Lateral à la Marne. Itineraries run between either Château-Thierry and Châlons-en-Champagne or Épernay and Couvrot during six-night cruises that begin with a two-hour road transfer from Paris.