Having already been out to Reims I found myself back here again but this time "sans TGV" (without the fast train!) and did it in my hire-car. A Nissan "something-or-other", so bland it makes even a Toyota Camry start to look pretty exciting! I had visions of a sleek little Peugeot cabriolet or would even have settled for a classic Citroen 2CV(which sounds so close to the French word for "lemon" its not funny!) Unfortunately this silver 4 door yawn-mobile will have to do for the next three weeks! I gave its "tres petit" little 1.2l engine a bash on the Autoroute from Paris the other day, some 160km and it coped pretty well! Can't say my patience with some of those French drivers coped that well though! And at times the TGV flying past at 320kmh made me feel like I was going backwards! At least I stayed on the right side of the road all the way (well there was one interesting hiccup at the end of the first day but that was post Moet and Veuve cellar visits!!)
So, the OTHER big name in the champagne region is of course Epernay. (In French it sounds a bit like "Ay-paarr-naay" - It's tough getting your tongue around those French "rrrrr"'s!!) A much smaller town just 30 minutes drive due south of its bigger brother but in my book soooo much nicer! It doesn't have anywhere near as many Champagne Houses as Reims but it does have the Joker in the champagne worlds' deck of cards - Moet et Chandon! Probably the best known and considered one of the best champagne's of them all and particularly its "Grand Cru" - Dom Perignon - named after the monk who is pretty much recognised as having formalised the whole champagne making process. (As opposed to discovering it which was somebody else completely that I mentioned in an earlier blog.) (Well, everyone has their favourite bubbly and Cristal by Louis Roederer is considered up in those lofty echelons these days thanks to the Tsars of Russia.)
Moet et Chandon (pronounced as a nasally French "Mo-ett ay Shun-donn") is not entirely on its own down there, Pol Roger and Perrier Jouet are here too. In fact they are so close to Moet that I reckon if I cracked a bottle of '72 Dom in Moets' front courtyard I could almost hit their front gates with a stiff breeze blowing in the right direction! The very street upon which they are all situated is named Avenue de Champagne. If you're after a "biere" around here then of course you had better look somewhere else! Beckoning you into Moet's beautiful Caves and boutique is none-other than THE man, Dom P. himself - well a pretty cool statue of him anyway. Not sure what he is trying to indicate with his right hand - to me it looks like either "Un petit peu more champagne s'il vous plait Monsieur" or "Eet iz zis cold down zere in ze cellar"! (please insert your own attempted French accent to suit here!)
Moet itself offers a very nice "cave" visit (cellar visit) which ends in the usual tasting of the champagne houses product. For private groups they even offer the "Dom Perignon" experience which includes a private tour of the oldest parts of the cellars and tasting of their exclusive and expensive grand Cru of Dom P. itself!Well over 20km's of tunnels are here like in most of the other large champagne houses where the champagne"sleeps" for many years at a constant 10C to 12C allowing for all of the flavours within the bottle to slowly infuse into the wine. In some cases the bottles sit solemnly awaiting their final day of reckoning for over 15 years!
For me however, the thing that wins my vote with Epernay is its proximity to the vineyards themselves, they are literally hanging,seeming to be almost suspended on the rolling hills that overlook this city in the "Val du Marne". It seems that almost every square inch of land that surrounds Epernay is used for the harvesting of its famous grapes which makes for an absolute gorgeous backdrop to this cute town.
So ,what of Dom himself!? Well he was laid to rest in the abbey in which he did what Benedictine monks do best! It's located in the extremely cute village of Hautvillers ("Ho-vee-ay" - yes, I know it sounds like the chorus from an American rap song and looks NOTHING like how it is spelt which is what makes their language such a frustrating one to learn!)
It's around a 10mins drive just up into the hillside above Epernay. It's here that every local tradesman many years ago would have a beautiful little wrought-iron sign hanging outside his home to indicate his trade to passers-by. Tres mignon!
P. Dom (to his friends!) lies buried in a tomb recessed into the floor before the altar of the very abbey at which he "worked". Basically it says in Latin "Here lies the creator of that bubbly drink for which many a hangover can be blamed as well as causing many thousands of young ladies to walk home bare-footed carrying their high heels in hand over their shoulder after a day at the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne/any other horse-racing event!" Well, my year 7 and 8 Latin was quite rudimentary and quite a while ago so I might be a bit out on the translation but you get the jist !Apologies for my poor translation Father Barry! Mea culpe!
There are many beautiful driving routes in the area as well. Known as the "Route Touristique du Champagne" (Yes it sounds MUCH more exotic than its English translation!) - they follow beautiful winding roads through gorgeous landscapes filled with...um, yes, grapes!!Verzy and Verzeney are two of the more popular villages - particular the latter for Mumms fine French provincial "moulin" (windmill) that is perched high above the valley that stretches out serenely below it.
So after a couple of days exploring this region its fair to say I will never look at a grape or sparkling wine quite the same way - especially if it's the authentic French version from the beautiful champagne region east of Paris. Next stop - the beautiful chateaux of "Val du Loire"! A bientot et sante!
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