A Very Bubbly Weekend: Champagne, Day 1

I've been spending a lot of time indoors lately, enjoying

my mantel,

found art,

my view,

espresso,

and memories of France. France is the European country I haven't yet lived in, but know I will someday. I love the ear-tickling language, the strong cheese and delicate baguettes, the stand-offish pride of the people, the calm but cutting edge fashion. And the champagne, oh the champagne.

The last time I was in France was when my sister and I were living in Berlin and decided we needed a French-speaking, champagne-filled weekend adventure. Inspired by our grandma (who loves champagne, fresh baguettes, and blooming flowers, among other things), we decided Epernay and Reims, in France's Champagne region, were exactly where we needed to go. A quick Air Berlin flight to Paris, a night's sleep in Montmartre, and an hour train ride to Epernay brought us to our destination. And by 10:00am,

we were saying hi to Dom. And ready for our first champagne tasting.

*(I apologize for the quality of this and all of the following images. I had dropped and broken my digital camera the week before, so we had to make due with two 90s-style disposable cameras for this trip.)

We were excited to do our first champagne tour transaction completely in French to get ourselves in the spirit. Which also meant that we splurged for the 18 euro Moet et Chandon "Visite Imperiale"--a tour of the caves that would conclude with two glasses of champagne instead of just one. Hey, when in Champagne...

The Moet et Chandon posters in the reception area were some of our faves,

but the caves were the real highlight.

We learned (for the first of at least 10 times, in both English and French) the champagne-making process, the history of champagne, the inordinate amount of deaths suffered by cellar masters (it's pretty poor air quality down there), and that Moet codes its champagnes (see the chalkboard writing?) with numbers that only the cellar master knows to prevent anyone from stealing their precise methods and recipes! How very top secret of them.

Our so very French guide showing us the various sizes of bottles--all full and all for sale. (I'll take the rehoboam size, please.)

After the caves, it was time for the real highlight: the tasting. Which is where my sister and I discovered that we were the only people under 50, the only ones not in a tour group and/or on a honeymoon, and the only ones who opted for the two champagne tastings. Everyone might have looked at us a little funny at first (why aren't they in school? why are they drinking so much?), but when our tulip glasses of bubbly rose came out after their singular glasses of brut were finished, their expressions all turned to those of envy quite quickly.

Alas, so long, Moet.

Upon leaving, we realized we might have spoiled ourselves by tasting Moet et Chandon first--could anything else be quite as good? Well, there was only one way to find out.

We headed to the Perrier-Jouet chateau just down the street, but sadly, it was temporarily closed.

So after a quick lunch of baguettes, fromage et 1 euro champagne (we kept it classy on our off time), we moved on.

Next along Avenue de Champagne was Lang-Biemont, where there were no caves to tour, but there was a mademoiselle so unhappy to serve us that we inched out of there as quick as possible (but not before completing two tastings, bien sur).

Next was Maison Mercier, whose laser-guided car tours were probably our favorite of the trip. (Sadly, our trusty disposable cameras weren't able to capture any decent images of this Disneyland-esque champagne tour extravaganza.) They also had in their reception room

the second largest tonneau in the world--it holds the equivalent of 213,000 bottles of wine! (Who's ready for a sip?)

The tours and tastings were concluded with a visit to Champagne de Castellane. I don't remember the particulars of this visit, but that's probably due to the massive amounts of champagne I had already imbibed. And the two more 1 euro bottles we bought for a rainy dinner in our hotel room, complete with more baguettes, fromage, and a viewing of Nouvelle Star--the French version of American Idol. The first of three days, this was exactly what we had hoped for--the perfect vacation if you're looking for a laid back, small town, bubbly escape.