100. Champagne

Where: Champagne Valley, France
When: July 14 - 16, 2013
With: Dave and the family

Following Dave's graduation from business school, the entire family decided to go on a vacation to celebrate. The destination: France. With a little bit of something for everyone, all within relatively short distances, it made for the perfect place to go. The first part of our trip was in a region whose very name is synonymous with France: Champagne. As they say, sparkling wine can come from anywhere, but champagne can only come from here.

A short train ride from Paris, this region of the country is marked by small villages that dot the green, hilly landscape covered in rows and rows of vineyards. Upon arriving at our chateau of a hotel, we immediately capped off the vacation with a bottle of bubbly in the back courtyard while taking in the classic French atmosphere.

We then headed into the town closest to where we were staying: Reims. The largest city in the region, it has been important since the days of the Roman empire for the vast quarries of chalk under the city. It's now considered the unofficial capital of Champagne. 

Reims is home to several champagne houses, where the bubbly drink is produced and stored under the facade of beautiful French mansions. The old, deep chalk quarries that sit under these buildings provide the perfect cool and consistent conditions to allow the champagne to ferment and age. 

So we started off our tour of Reims by visiting the champagne house of Mumm. After watching a short film about how their champagne is produced, we were brought down to the chalk caves to gain more understanding of the process and see the 2,000 year old example of Roman ingenuity. Our guide spoke limited English, so while we followed him through the caves, past bottles and bottles of bubbly, we only understood parts of what he was trying to explain. Oh, the language barrier. 

Anyway, tour-shmour, they ended up doing an amazing tasting. And really, isn't that why you tour a champagne house? They let us sample three different types of their champagne, a perfect way to acquaint ourselves with the region. 

After finishing our tour at Mumm, we did some site-seeing of Reims. While most of them were closed, the elaborate champagne houses were scattered all around the city, hidden big, fancy, wrought-iron gates.  

The city itself was a mix of old and new world. Despite its long history, it was damaged pretty severely in World War I, so many of the buildings are "new" and "modern" by European standards.  

As it was Bastille Day in France (think of it like a French 4th of July), French flags were out in abundance. However, the celebrations were a bit lackluster...as in, we didn't see any!

The main site to see in this city is its cathedral. While a church has sat on this spot since about 400AD, the cathedral as we see it today has been in existence since the 1200s. Considered to be the "Westminster Abbey" of France, French kings were coronated on this site for nearly a thousand years, starting in 851. 

The cathedral was badly damaged during World War I and restoration efforts continue to this day. This is no easy task given the number of incredibly intricate carvings on the exterior and the beautiful stained glass on the interior.

Other than that, Reims was a quiet place (though I will give it the benefit of the doubt, it was a Sunday and a holiday). It did have a lovely high street, lined with outdoor cafes that encourage you to sit back, have a drink, and take in the peace. 

The next day was our opportunity to see the rest of the valley. We booked ourselves on a formal tour where a driver would take us around to the various champagne houses for the day. Our very sweet driver, Cris, spoke very little English, but was enthusiastic in assuring that we have a great day of tastings. 

The best part of the tour was that we finally got to understand just how champagne is made. To begin with, champagne starts similar to regular wine. Only Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or Chardonnay grapes may be used in some varying combination. These are pressed and the juice is stored in a giant vat. 

At that point, the liquid is flat and just like regular wine. The champagne process then begins by bottling the wine and adding yeast. This creates a second fermentation by which the yeast will eat the sugars in the wine. However, this produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that get trapped inside the bottle with nowhere to go. Sometimes, the bottles explode under all the pressure of the trapped bubbles. The flying shards of glass are mitigated by stacking the bottles very tightly together. That way, when one explodes, it's fairly contained (though a gaping hole is left behind in the beautiful arrangement). 

After the fermentation is complete, there is quite a bit of dead yeast sitting in the bottle (not good for marketing). This is where the final storage technique comes in. Bottles are placed top down in these wooden holders. Over the course of a few weeks, someone called a "riddler" will come in and turn the bottles by 1/8th every day (a good riddler can turn 10,000 bottles a day). This process slowly shakes the leftover yeast sediment into the neck of the bottle. On the bottoms of some of the bottles, you can see a small white line. Like the hands of a clock, this gives an indication as to how far to turn the bottles. 

After weeks of riddling, the necks of the bottle should be filled with sediment. Now they have to get it out. The neck of the bottle is put into a machine that essentially flash freezes the sediment.  Upon removing the cap on the bottle, the pressure from the carbon dioxide build-up shoots the solid block of frozen sediment out like a cannon. The remaining liquid is pure champagne, ready to be corked, packaged and consumed!

Our first champagne house of the day was actually back in Reims at Tattinger. Built on top of both an old monastery and the chalk mines, the house had a great foundation for champagne production. Elements of the monastery, including formal archways and statues of saints, sat right beside the rows and rows of champagne. 

Chisel marks from the hammers of the Romans were still clearly visible today.

The original doors from the monastery are preserved down here. Each one has an iconic symbol of Christianity marked on the door (e.g. the hammer, etc). 

An interesting thing to see in these caves was the graffiti on the walls. During World War I, the residents of Reims took shelter down here for protection during the bombings. They had enough room in the high-arched caves to have makeshift schools and hospitals during their stay. The soft rock made it easy for these temporary residents to leave their mark behind. 

The caves appeared to go on for miles and miles. 

One cave was stacked with thousands of bottles, all the way to the back. 

However, as great as the tour was, the tasting is still my favorite part. 

Cris then took us out into the countryside. This allowed us to really appreciate the vastness of the many, many vineyards. 

And what an excellent vineyard to enter!

The next two champagne houses we visited were located amidst the vineyards in the small hilltop town of Hautvillers. The champagne houses that occupy this village are much smaller and have a more intimate feel. Each one was denoted by a signature sign hanging outside their door, usually made from iron, with a unique "crest" of the family. 

This first one we toured had a beautiful cellar with an interesting contraption that allowed, with the turn of a crank, for all the bottles to be riddled at once (rather than each individually). 

The second one had a little shout out to Dom Perignon, the man attributed with the invention of champagne. It also sold an interesting brand of champagne: Marilyn Monroe. 

Across the street from this house is the church in which Dom Perignon is buried. It is rumored that after discovering champagne, he ran down the streets shouting "I am drinking the stars!!"

This small town also provided us with amazing views over the valley. This was one of the most stunning views I've ever seen.

 Our next stop was at the Moet Chandon headquarters. As the tasting tours are expensive and tough to get on, we just took a spin through the gift shop to observe how expensive the bottles could get. The elite of the elite of champagne are the vintage bottles of Dom Perignon. A vintage is when all the grapes in the bottle are from the same year; however, to make a bottle of Dom Perignon, the grapes had to be exceptional.  Hence the hefty price tag associated with it. 

The Moet & Chandon headquarters was located in the town of Épernay. While not as large as Reims, it is home to the Avenue de Champagne, a long street of beautiful mansions-turned-champagne-houses. 

We finished our tour at a small champagne house just outside of Épernay. The wine cellar was much smaller than any other place we had seen, but that just made it feel more unique. 

 The usual homage to the man himself, Dom. 

The thing that made this house most unique though was the opportunity to sabre open a bottle of champagne. Yes, with a sabre. Dave was handed a sword and by placing it at the base of the bottle and swiftly sweeping it down the neck, he was able to literally hack off the top. 

Look at that precision

We ended our day in Champagne by taking a stroll through the tiny town of Rilly-a-Montagne in which our hotel was located. By the sheer number of champagne houses in this tiny village alone, it became apparent how people can easily spend an entire week just touring around this valley and tasting.

As the light faded over the vineyards of the town (some located in people's back yards!) we took in the last views as the buzz from our day of champagne drinking slowly wore off. This was a stunning region of France, and the perfect way to kick of Dave's celebratory trip.