You guessed it! Champagne!I was pretty much in my bubbly glory the entire weekend as I felt no shame in ordering a glass of champagne with every meal, something I feel sort of diva doing elsewhere. But when in Rome, right?
We stayed in
the center of Reims (which for the life of me cannot pronounce properly
without spitting) in a curious little hotel called the Hotel Crystal. Dropping our things off and me wanting to change out of my peep-toe heels to my more weather appropriate black Keds, much to my horror, I had packed two left shoes. Having several pairs of these sneakers and the dim-lighting in my bedroom, this was bound to happen one of these days, just not on a rainy weekend exploring champagne caves.
I had two choices here: drive out to the suburbs of Reims looking for an E.Leclerc (France's WalMart, more or less), and waste precious Champagne time to buy appropriate footwear, or deal with it and visit les caves in 2007 Dior Gladiator heels.
Do I even need to tell you which one I chose?
We kicked off our weekend with the bigger Champagne houses and paced ourselves by tasting not finishing the complimentary glasses offered (this is me being an adult.) Although the bigger houses were impressive, I would have to say the tour that I was most enchanted with was hosted by one of my favorite champagnes, Demoiselle (part of the Vranken family who also produce Pommery.) Perhaps it was because it was the end of the day or because this more of a niche champagne, but the Villa Demoiselle attracted a much smaller crowd where we could really experience the house with all of its art nouveau touches, we could actually hear the guide, and none of the other tour visitors asked annoying and irrelevant questions.
The tour ended with a glass from their Diamant collection which was pretty much like sipping on sparkling liquid gold.
This glass, I finished.
A little purple lace coat and an Eiffel Tower box?I can't.
You know one of these is sitting in our fridge right now.
I'm such a sucker for packaging.
Reims was nice, and while I appreciated visiting the famous Champagne houses and seeing their Notre Dame, I couldn't help but feel slightly uninspired with how commercial most of the town was. The Sephoras (there were two!), Jennyfer, and H&M stores reminded me more of a mini rue de Rivoli than the region where Champagne came from. I had always imagined my beverage of choice to come from a quaint little French village sprinkled with family producers on side streets, welcoming visitors, and encouraging tastings.
Not wanting to be a whiny little bitch, I kept these thoughts to myself; not every place in France has to be a postcard out of an Audrey Hepburn movie. I get it. Well, someone was listening to my silent "concerns" because the following day we headed out to Rilly La Montagne, and this is where I got to see the Champagne I had always imagined.
Autumn in Champagne.
This is where the magic comes from!
This was more like it! Quiet and super quaint with the air smelling like wood-burning fireplaces. Walking around the village (still in my towering heels), we absorbed the countryside scenery us city-folk had been craving. We may have been the only people in town, because not even a car passed us by. It was divine.
Faced with fermé signs and locked doors, it had occurred to us that not many producers are open on Saturday, especially during a holiday weekend. Well, wise wife to the rescue, I reckoned that the only solution was to stop at Chateau de Rilly, the town's four star hotel that we had passed, order a glass of champagne (you know, for inspiration) and call several of the houses to request a reservation.
As suspected, it worked. Within the hour, we were welcomed to most of the houses that we called, were offered a generous tasting (more than just one glass!), learned the company history and chatted with the owners, their kids, and their wives. It was much more intimate than what we had experienced in Reims.
It was truly a sparkling weekend (pun so intended), we came home a few cases of champagne heavier; one to keep in the house for the impending holidays and the other for a very special upcoming event....to be continued.
