November 19

Today was the first day of our Champagne winery and cave visits. We got an unusually early start today as we had to pack up and leave our apartment in Paris, take a taxi, 1/2 hour west to CDG, pick up a car, then drive back east about an hour to make a 10:00 appointment in Epernay.  Kinda rushed.

Epernay is considered by many to be the Champagne capital of the world. If Epernay is the capital, Moet and Chandon is the grandaddy, famous for popularizing the bubbly with royalty, heads of state and captains of industry over the few hundred years it’s been around. Moet and Chandon was our first appt. We were late. Fortunately for us, Moet &Chandon had another later appointment for us an hour later, because the GPS that came with the car didn’t work and we got lost in these little appropriately-named industrial park traffic eddies around the airport called “fret”.

Moet & Chandon was, as expected, elegant, a not so touristic for such a stalwart in the wine tourism industry. They greeted us warmly and didn’t charge us for the tour and tasting. They manage to keep the place looking much as it would have as a home for royalty in the wine industry some hundreds of years ago. 

We were lucky they had another tour in english starting when they did, so we tagged along with the later one. There were pictures in the hallway of the original home of the 1st 3 generations of Moet, from the 18th century, and an added walled garden across the street and lots more added-on rooms. Jean Remy, the 3rd generation Moet was the one to internationalize the product. He was a friend of, among others, Napolean the 1st, who gave him a wooden cask full of brandy. We were impressed to find it there, still on display in the cellar. 

The cellars were huge, spanning about 27 kilometers in all. They’re the biggest Champagne caves around. We would have easily been lost in there forever and subsisting on creamy old champagne if it weren’t for the guide.  It coulda been like...The Shining.   

We did a tasting afterward of three champagnes. Why should we complain at the price? After we finished in Epernay at Moet & Chandon, we headed up to Reims, where 27 French kings were coronated there in the cathedral. We had a couple of afternoon appointments, one at Ruinart Champagne, and one at Mumm. We made it to Ruinart without a minute to spare. On the low season, it’s nice to have less crowds, but many champagne houses are closed on the weekends. Made it tough weekend for scheduling and forced me to plan our visits without much buffer time. Ruinart was amazing! Our host, Julie, is a native of the region and extremely knowledgable, friendly, easygoing, unpretentious. 

Ruinart is in Rue de Crayeres. 

The Crayeres (chalk pits), originally dug for quarrying the chalk, and later used for storing the champagnes, are all shaped like massive underground cones reaching down hundreds of feet below the surface of the ground. They had to dig them that way so the chalk wouldn't dry out in the air. Reims hid down here during the bombing of the wars. 

The inner walls are all pockmarked, showing signs of the eerily massive undertaking done only with hand tools. We walked down hundreds of steps and through kilometers of tunnels and pits, learning about the champagne process and the history of the Ruinart House. There's an awful lot of steps; maybe 284.

Later did a tasting of four Ruinart Champagnes. We both loved the Dom Ruinart and Dom Ruinart Rose. No surprise. They’re the higher end bottles. They sit for about 8 years on the lees.    

Decided to go into Reims to buy a GPS before our next appt. Spent too much time looking for parking and missed our appt at Mumm. So we went back to shop for the GPS. Probably a good way to help minimize arguments. I'm a convert. 


Somehow with the GPS, we still managed to get lost. We got in an argument so bad,  Darren yelled, I got out of the car, and walked to the pizzeria. Took a cab to the hotel. Called Darren from the front desk and, with the help of the concierge, directed him there. Guess I'm kind of a ludite when it comes to GPS, but I'm coming around. 

Le Briquitierre was on the site of an old Brickyard that had pressed a majority of the bricks used to build the surrounding villages centuries back. Many of the bricks of Epernay as well are traced back to the site of this brickyard. Now there is a resort hotel with spa and Michelin- Starred restaurant.

We ate there tonight and were not disappointed. I have figured out that with fine dining, the staff all have an ulterior motive to force us to eat way more food than we would naturally consume. By the end of the meal we’re so full we can’t walk, really grateful and surprised for superb cuisine, and almost too fucked up to find our room.