An Expensive Stretch of Property

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On our way to Paris, we stopped for a visit at the headquarters of the very famous Monet and Chandon Champagne in the Champagne region of France. The building is located along a block with 10 other wine and champagne companies. This block is said to be one of the most expensive in the country. But this is not because of the buildings or real estate above ground, but rather because of the 17.5 miles of underground caves that are found beneath the street where the champagne ages and goes through the process needed to become champagne.
Part of this process is a technique of rotating the bottles to get ride of sediment. Workers will rotate up to 50,000 bottles a day! The caves themselves are limestone and kept at perfect temperature (I forget what that temperature was) all year round. The first caves were made in the 1700's and the newest were made in 1911... thus they have been doing this for quite a long while.
We oh course got to sample the champagne in their beautiful gardens at the end of the tour. Our drive afterward through the vineyards was beautiful as we continued on to Paris.

INTERESTING FACT: Real champagne comes from Champagne, France. All else is just sparkling wine... don't mix this up unless you want to really tick off a French person.

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Photos

The Expensive Street
There are 17.5 miles of caves under this street

The Caves
We couldn't take photos down here, thus my sneaked ones are not that good