Reims - pop that Champagne!

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About two weeks before, my Aussie friend that I had made in Dubai and who had moved to Spain last year messaged me and invited me to come to Paris, or Reims actually, to celebrate her milestone birthday. I had not left the UAE except for a couple short work trips since the end of June, so I figured, why not! I took Friday off and flew into Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, arriving at 9:30am and was able to get a direct high speed train to Champagne-Ardenne at 11:22am, with a short local train to the main Reims station. Easy! I had booked a little hotel near the station, Brit Hotel Aux Sacres, which was cute, friendly, and centrally located, with a little extra for a decent breakfast.

I had no idea what to expect here, but I was happy to get out of the hot desert for a few days. This is not a place I probably would have planned to visit on my own, but my friend had been working in Paris for the Olympics and so many of her new friends were based here, so just a short train trip for them to celebrate with her. I met my friend A, her boyfriend E, and their two friends S and L for a late lunch (many places were closed at this point). We went to a friendly restaurant, Brasserie Le Thiers, where I just got a light chicken salad, but we shared a yummy bottle of rose wine and I allowed myself a creme brulee. Yum!

Champagne Pommery

Then we made our way to the Pommery Winery where L's friend had scored the five of us tickets for a tour of the caves. Again, no idea what to expect, but wow. The winery buildings here do not mess around! They are architectural marvels of their own and add to the overall experience. The architecture in town was gorgeous in general we all agreed; clearly, this was an area with money! I first noted the giant wine barrel in the main hall of the winery, which turns out to be the largest wine barrel in the world and has intricate carvings on the lid, which represent the friendship between the US and France. There was also a nice landscape model of the region with the vineyards and buildings.

We waited until the appointed time for the English speaking tour, which was a large group led by a sweet but firm girl - she did not mess around with the rules or repeating herself! The tour was great. We went down a long flight of lighted stairs and at the base she gave us a bit of history on how the caves came to be. These are all over this area and are called crayeres, which were caves that were dug down into to mine the chalk hundreds of years ago. They have a typical structure, being pretty narrow entrances at the top and wide toward the bottom. Once this became a wine region, these crayers were joined at the base by tunnels and this is where they store the wine. It has a pretty constant temperature of 10-12 degrees Celsius and are humid, which help with the preservation of the wine. This particular winery was started in 1858 by Alexandre Pommery as a wool business, but his widow, Louise, focused it toward the production of Champagne. In particular, it was the first champagne house to create the dry brut to cater to the English young male tourists. She also took an interest in including art within the caves and buildings as part of the overall experience, a tradition that continues today in this champagne house and others within the region. The Widow Pommery really seemed to know what she was doing! It was fascinating to see the hundreds if not thousands of wine bottles in the caves. It is now owned by the Vranken company and is one of the largest producers in the region. Some of the art was pretty interesting, while some was a bit strange - the giant lit up beating heart in a large crayere was..... huh? But still, I liked that the art changed and it did add to the overall experience of the place, making it quite memorable.

Once we made our way back up the long flight of stairs, we were given a glass of champagne to taste. It was yum. However, this was also my very first stop of the weekend, so I did not buy anything. They are like the largest producer in the region, so I am sure they are ok. But I really loved all the blue accents used in the design of the buildings and products. Unique and memorable.

Reims

My friends dropped me at my hotel for a nap and continued to their very nice Airbnb about a 10 minute walk away. iI took my friend calling me a few times to get me up to meet them for dinner at 8pm. I am glad she got me out of bed because dinner was diving. I walked down to the small restaurant, SODAD, which they had noticed being near their Airbnb and decided to make a reservation. At this point, there were 7 of us including a couple Americans. The wine was delicious and the food, just exquisite. The food was sorted into the "Entrees", "Dishes" and "Desserts". They were priced individually, or you could get all three for 49 euros. I went all in because everything looked so good. I got Scampis with Saffron and Barigoule Artichoke, Scallops with parsnip mousseline and chorizo (YUUUUMMMMY), and Mille-Feuilles Figue and Nuts, Coriscan Honey Mousse. So full, and so worth it. I mean, I am in France so I am definitely going to enjoy the cuisine, my upcoming intense adventure being put on the back burner.

The next morning I woke early and ate a nice basic breakfast of croissant with bacon and eggs. Then I walked towards the Weekend Market which opens bright (dark?) and early. It was hard to get good photos due to the bright interior lights, but it was so nice. There were individual sellers of meat, fish, produce, cheese, and other things like jam and dried fruits. I enjoyed just walking around and noted how it soon became a bit busy. I got a sandwich thing my friend had mentioned he was looking for (we all wound up sharing it the next day) by a super friendly guy who I was somehow able to communicate with my very limited French and his very limited English. However, what I remember most is the absolute most beautiful artichokes I have ever seen in my life. I'm still craving them.

I started to make my way to the Cathedral, which opens at 7:30, and which I'll discuss in a separate blog. The sun was just starting to rise and I got to quietly enjoy the beauty of this city. The architecture and street layout was so pleasant. I passed by bakeries and patisseries that were just starting to come alive and see some people hard at work inside.

Champagne Ruinart

We had reeservations at 11:00 am at Maison Ruinart for my friends birthday brunch, tasting and scheduled tour. So, we were basically going to spend the whole day at this champagne house. Most of us met at the Airbnb and decided to walk about 40 minutes to the winery. It was slightly uphill, but weather was amazing and it was just so nice. We had to walk a bit fast and our friend who had said he would do a 'walking tour' occasionally pointed out interesting buildings. He did not know anything about them, but thought they were interesting. Haha.

We arrived on time, but were short a few members who were coming from the train. After waiting about 15 minutes, they arrived and the first part of the day commenced. Ruinart was founded in 1729, so they are preparing to celebrate their 300 year anniversary. 300 years!!! So there was some outdoor construction going on, which took away a bit from the lovely imposing places around, but very understandable. This is one of the smaller wineries in the area, but they have a well established and respected name.

We had the most adorable guide who was friendly and knowledgeable. I liked the no-nonsense guide the day before a lot, but this girl was just so cute! First, we walked down more steep stairs into the first cave area. Looking back at the stairs, we noted that the faces of each steps were painted to make up the iconic poster of the house. The guide pointed out that the woman holding the champagne glass could cup the glass which allowed women to drink in public without people knowing for sure as it was not overly accepted the time. There was a piece of art on the wall that I initially rolled my eyes at as it looked like a child's game that you typically see in the doctor's waiting room or maybe Mousetrap. I loved that it once she showed what it was! It was a demonstration of the champagne making process, where you drop the ball and it follows a complicated path along each of the steps of the process. So cool. I approve of this type of modern art. Before we went to the next section, we looked through the window at one of the production facilities - very cool.

We continued further down into the storage caves. Thousands of bottles of wine lined the chalk cave walls. Our guide said irrigation is not allowed due to the rock, which is already moist and keeping the caves humid. Irrigation could cause issues. Everything in the process is done by hand, including the labeling. Sometimes the bottles explode outwardly due to the pressure, and we saw a few examples of this. The champagne takes a minimum of 9 years aging, or 13 years for magnum sized. Generally, there are three types of grape used in this region: meunier, chardonnay and pinot noir.

We got more detail about the regional crayeres. According to our guide, there are over 7,000 of these in the region, but only about half of them have been discovered to date. As mentioned, they were hand dug hundreds of years ago for building materials, then later connected by tunnels to store the champagne. One area we saw stairs dating from the 1300's heading up to the surface. Then we headed down even further into their largest crayere, about 38m height / depth, tastefully lit up and one of Ruinart's most recognizable features. We continued into the tunnels into another large cave which has an art installation to celebrate the 300 years anniversary, when the guide turned out the lights to see the automated display, which i think represented the excavation process of the crayeres. Thankfully, we took the elevator back up.

Then we went to the main tasting room, which was closed off for our private tasting of an apertif champagne. The room was nice, including a foosball table using champagne bottles. Then we were taken to the private dining room which was just so lovely and we knew we were going to have a great experience. We were poured our first glass of wine and served a couple of small dishes, including a type of prepared egg on bread, as well as some smoked salmon and a cold soup. We had bread at all times and I was like, forget the champagne, I want the butter! It was sooooo smooth and good. The main course included roast beef and potatoes and we got a total of five types of wine tastings. What an incredible meal and experience with my friend, her boyfriend, and some new people. Then we walked back the 40 minutes to town (had to walk off that meal for sure!). Most of them stopped at the cathedral, which I had already seen, so I went back to my hotel for a much needed nap!

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Comments

[Ake Och Emma]

Looks interesting
That looks interesting. I think I also would enjoy visiting it. /Ake