"Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!" Champagne Tasting in Champagne
To the purpose of this post! If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook you already know that after four and a half days in Paris we headed to the Champagne region to continue our honeymoon. It's said that as the monk Dom Pérignon tasted his first iteration of champagne he exclaimed, "Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!". I feel the same way about champagne. Champagne has been the drink of choice for Lynette and I ever since we started dating. Whether it's a special occasion or the decision to have a date night in the middle of the week, we enjoy celebrating with a glass of bubbles.
It seemed a natural fit then, when Lynette's brother (a wine buyer in NYC) offered to set us up to spend two nights in Hautevillers in a cottage near the Abbey d'Hautevillers where Dom Pérignon lived and developed champagne. What better way to celebrate the occasion of our marriage? So, after we finished our meal in Paris at Clamato, we took our bags and headed to Enterprise to pick up our car for the journey. As we began the two hour drive from Paris to Hautevillers soft white snowflakes began to fall. The drive was easy and scenic. We passed by lush green fields and forests with trees changing to autumn colors. As we approached Hautevillers the scene changed to vast expanses of neat rows of harvested grape vines.
The age of Hautevillers revealed itself by its narrow, winding streets, and alleyways that could only be approached by foot. On our first night we were warmly welcomed and settled into our cottage, a spacious four room suite which was directly above a champagne tasting room with large windows that opened up to the town.
I'll share more about Hautevillers itself in upcoming posts. On our first night, we enjoyed champagne in our cottage and then walked the very quiet streets to go to dinner. The next morning we woke up early to begin our champagne tasting experiences. Our first reservation was a 9:00 am tour at Moët et Chandon in Épernay, an easy 10 minutes away from Hautevillers.
Champagne Tasting in Champagne: Moët et Chandon
Address | 20 avenue de Champagne, 51200, Epernay, France
As you can see in the link above, there are a variety of tours at different price points that you can choose from. We were advised to choose tours with vintage tastings because the difference in ticket price is relatively marginal and would give you access to vintages that you would otherwise pay considerably more to taste. That being said, you will have an informative and entertaining experience whichever package you choose.
We choose to start at Moët et Chandon, because in our research and conversations with the experts it was
repeatedly said that they have an excellent program for guided tours of the caves and explaining the process and history of champagne making, followed by tastings in a beautiful room.
Recording the caves themselves is prohibited but they were quite different from the chalk caves of Champagne Pommery that you'll see in the video I posted below. Moët et Chandon caves had low ceilings with tightly packed rows of champagne (they produce over 28 million bottles of champagne per year so it is a very impressive collection of bottles). The caves are chilly so wear layers. We enjoyed our tour very much which ended with a champagne tasting. We were advised to next visit champagne houses in Reims because of the unique beauty of the crayères, the Gallo-Roman chalk quarries converted to cellars. Our options were a bit limited because it was Saturday and believe it or not, many of the houses are closed on Saturday and Sunday. When planning your trip be sure to account for that as well as the hours. Most houses close around 5:00 p.m.
Champagne Tasting in Champagne: Champagne Pommery
Address | 5, place Général Gouraud 51 100 Reims France
Reims is about 30 minutes away from Epernay. Once we arrived in Reims our first stop was Champagne Pommery. The estate is large and the buildings colorful. Founded by Alexandre Louis Pommery. It was under the guidance of his widow, Louise Pommery, this Champagne house developed and grew to become a global brand and one of the largest Champagne houses.
There was not a guided tour available until later in the afternoon (when we had an appointment elsewhere) and so we decided on the self-guided tour with vintage tastings. We were given pamphlets and walked down into the crayères. What is unique and entertaining about the Pommery caves is that all through out there are various contemporary art installations. Light shows, displays, and tracings can be seen throughout. Video tapping is permitted so below in the video you can get a taste of the different artistic expressions. The ceilings were very high and each path would lead to a large atrium with a small opening of light at the very top. The storage areas were named after cities from all over the world and so my wife and i made a fun game of locating places we had visited and lived in, both together and separately. The temperature of the caves was cool and stays consistent year round which keeps and helps the champagne develop.
A celebration of the friendship between Champagne and America, this wine barrel was made by Master woodworker Emile Gallé and sits in the main entry way where we had our champagne tasting at the end of the tour. It is one of the largest wine barrels and holds up to 75,000 liters of wine.
Champagne Tasting in Champagne: Veuve Cliquot
Address | 1, rue Albert Thomas 51100 Reims France
Veuve Cliquot was a last minute decision for us. After finishing at Pommery we debated whether we should grab a late lunch before our next scheduled tasting or visit one more house. The bright yellow signs and flags of the Veuve Cliquot estate won out and we opted to stop in. Their tours for the day were sold out but we were invited to the tasting room for champagne and to wander the grounds. We enjoyed a glass of the Grande Dame and wandered the brightly decorated rooms...a Smeg refrigerator and bright yellow bike were among the eclectic pieces were guests stopped by for photo ops. Satisfied we finished and returned to Hautevillers for our final tasting of the day.
Champagne Tasting in Champagne: Joseph Desruets
Address | 85 rue de Bacchus, 51160 Hautvillers, France
There are many small Champagne Houses in Hautevillers so it was difficult to narrow in on which one we should visit. Though their tasting room was closed for the weekend, we had already been introduced to Marion Bosser Champagne which we enjoyed in our cottage. The sommelier at Moët et Chandon highly recommended that we call for a tour of Joseph Desruets. We arrived at this small champagne
house at our appointed time. We walked into an intimate tasting room where we were greeted before moving outside and across the street to the small building where their champagne production takes place.
Joseph Desruets is a sixth generation family champagne house. They still press their wines with the same oak press that has been in use since 1888. They only produce 20,000 bottles of champagne per year and do not have distribution in the United States. The cellar is one small room with several barrels. After our tour we headed back to the main building for our tasting.
We tasted four Cuvées. The Cuvée Nature (above) has no dosage added (no sugars) and was one of our favorites to drink. It had a clean and slightly fruity taste with a dry finish. In fact, we liked this so much it was one of the bottles we brought back to the USA with us along with the Cuvée Rosé (below).
The Cuvée Reserve and Premier Cru were also really excellent champagnes. It was amazing to have the opportunity to experience such an excellent champagne that otherwise isn't available to us in NYC. The quality of the champagne was one of our favorites of the day.
And those were the four houses, in 3 towns that we visited for the day. While we tasted we discussed the family history and what foods we would enjoy pairing the wines with. It was a really fun and beautiful day and I highly recommend visiting the champagne houses of France if you have the opportunity.
Check out the video below for more. Are you a champagne drinker? What famous libation would you like to visit the origin region of? Let me know in the comments below.
