"Come quickly - I'm tasting the stars!"
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| One of Taittinger's many cellars.... |
It may only be a myth that monk Pierre Perignon spoke these words when tasting the champagne he was developing, but for us this quote is a pretty accurate description! We have arrived in Reims in the heart of the Champagne region in France. We are both a wee bit partial to the good bubbles of France and can't wait to taste a couple of houses in the area.
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| The Caves of Taittinger |
Unfortunately Caz has suffered a few migraines lately, including one on our travel day so after settling in to the hotel she needed to get some decent rest. G took herself out and about the town and arranged an afternoon tour (for the next day) for us at Pommery - contacting them by phone and making the booking in French. G has been a star when it has come to train tickets, changes to travel plans, speaking to the local people about tours, train times, etc. To be honest we wouldn't have managed to get this far this easily without her (by now you may have realised that Caz is writing this blog!).
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| More Taittinger bottles... |
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| Caz & G at the Taittinger tasting |
The champagne house we dreamed of visiting, Ruinart, was closed for renovations - very disappointing.
(Well, really all that just means is we will need to come back for a visit!). Our first full day in Reims started with a tour of Taittinger at 10am with a small tasting at the end. Neither of us expected too much of this tour but we were pleasantly surprised by the story of the champagne house and the process of production - the champagne was pretty good too! We wandered back toward the heart of Reims to take ourselves on a self-guided historic walking tour. We managed to do this via another small champagne house for a tasting! We walked the streets of Reims, stopping at the highlights of the town before heading back to the hotel for a quick break then off for our afternoon tour of Pommery.
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| Reims Cathedral Notre Dame |
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| War Memorial Reims |
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| Memorial to the Martyrs of the French Resistance |
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| More stunning flower displays... |
Pommery......Wow what a huge Seppeltsfield feel to this place! The tour had it's rewards however, one glass of the best for Georgina (Mike and Rod will know this one!) and 2 glasses to choose from for Caz and Caron. Very nice indeed. The plan was to then head out for dinner and off to the Cathedral to see the night light show but the weather closed in(seriously - it was bucketing down!!) so plan B was dinner at the hotel, early-ish night and try again the next day.
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| Heading down to the Pommery Caves |
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| We wouldn't mind this as our cellar |
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| Pommery Caves |
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| A fe Pommery bottles |
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| Glasswork on display in Pommery Caves |
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| Glassworks at Pommery |
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| A few of the best Pommery bottles under lock & key |
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| Welcome to Pommery! |
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| "Pommery world" |
For our last full day in the area we (G and Caz) headed off to Epernay by train in search of more bubbles. Most people seem to head to Moët and Chandon and Mercier, but we wanted to find smaller family-owned wineries - within walking distance of the train station of course!
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| Travelling by train through the vines to Epernay |
So, a short 1km walk along Avenue de Champagne and voila! We're not sure why we were the only ones at Champagne Comtesse Lafond (perhaps we were the only ones willing to walk that far?) but we couldn't believe our luck when we walked in. We were personally greeted by Nicholas with a huge smile welcoming us to the house. The place oozed romance and perhaps a time long-past. We were in champagne heaven. Then to the tasting - gorgeous! It was 10 euro for 3 champagnes; there were 6 on offer and 2 of us - you can work out the rest. We enjoyed every single glass, especially the vintage. The only downside of this place is that you can't get their champagne in Australia - you can't even buy it in the shops in France, only cellar door or fancy pants Michelin star restaurants!
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| Champagne Comtesse Lafond |
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| Two happy ladies after our tasting(s) |
We skipped on back down the Avenue feeling pretty good about life and came across another small champagne house which we tentatively popped our heads in. Again, we were lucky enough to stumble across a very small champagne 'boutique' winery and were greeted and welcomed with great warmth by the owner. He had a very romantic story to tell about his 'crazy dream' to start a new champagne label Champagne Paul-Etienne Saint Germain. It's a bit of a long story but the short version is that every drop was superb, and if we could ship it home we would - by the bucket load. We had the place to ourselves again so felt thoroughly spoilt.
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| Paul-Etienne Saint Germain |
The rest of the day was spent wandering before heading back to Reims for a great Moroccan dinner with Caron, then G and Caz headed to the cathedral for the light show. There's a few pics below to show you what happens.... (Very similar for those of you in Adelaide to the lights show which is done as part of the Adelaide Festival on North Tce)
Next day Georgina and Caron headed to the Museum of the Surrender in the morning. The museum preserves the intact map room of General Eisenhower's headquarters in which the German Army signed their full surrender on 7th May 1945. Victory Day is celebrated by the Allies on the 8th May, as this is the day when General De Gaulle & Churchill announced over the radio that the Germans had surrendered.
The rest of the day was spent travelling onwards to Dijon via train, and on to the next part of our French discovery tour.