Where to drink champagne…in Champagne!

So now you know all about why champagne is such a popular celebration drink, maybe you’re thinking it’s time for a visit to the region where it all began?

Most visitors base themselves in Epernay or the almost unpronounceable principle city of the region, Reims (it’s a lot harder than it looks, involving a very nasal vowel sound). I elected to stay in the smaller town of Epernay and drove the 30 minutes to visit Reims whilst I was there. The Avenue de Champagne is home to many of the gorgeous champagne houses including Moët et Chandon, Pol Roger and Perrier-Jouët. Reportedly, there are 110km of tunnels running underneath the World Heritage Listed Avenue, cellaring 200 million bottles.

Some research into visiting the big champagne houses evidenced there is very much a formula to tours; a bit like champagne itself I guess! The main champagne brands do not really do a cellar door experience, it’s more of a guided tour, like you would have of an historic building.

I was really keen to get a sense of the different types of champagne producers, not do pretty much the same tour, just with a different glass of champagne poured at the end of it. Plus, the tours of the main houses are not cheap, ranging in price from about €25 for the basic public tour with one glass of champagne, to private tours costing hundreds of euros. I was driving, so I was a bit restricted in the volume of visits I could complete, so I decided to visit one large, one medium and one small scale house. Here they are:

Big: Veuve Cliquot

Veuve Cliquot is my favourite of the big champagne house brands…well, maybe it’s Krug, maybe it’s Cristal, I just haven’t had much of those! Veuve is my go-to when I’m celebrating something special and I really love it!

The house is located on the edge of the city centre of Reims. It was founded in 1772 by Philippe Clicquot-Muiron. Phillipe’s son François married Barbe, a daughter of Baron Nicolas Ponsardin in 1798. When François unexpectedly died, his widow, Madame Clicquot took over the business, hence Veuve (“widow” in French) Clicquot. Under her control, this champagne house flourished and Madame Clicquot is now firmly part of the mythology of champagne – a pioneering, brave woman who is known as the ‘Grand Dame of Champagne’. She is also thought responsible for introducing the riddling technique.

Most of the Veuve tour is situated in the crayères (chalk cellars). This labyrinth of ancient quarries dating back from the Middle Ages started being used from 1909 as wine cellars. The cellars are located 20 meters underground and stretch 24 kilometers. It’s chilly down there, with temperatures of 10-12 celsius and over 90% humidity from winter to spring.

Walking through the tunnels, surrounded by thousands of bottles of wine stacked in riddling racks, your guide will tell you about the history of Veuve, the process of making champagne and the varied uses of the cellars over the centuries, including as safe spaces during a number of wars.

You exit the cellars via a stairway marked with the years Veuve produced a Vintage champagne; this only happens when the quality of the harvest that year allows it. My birth year was there…now how do I get my hands on a bottle of that?!

You finish your tour with a glass of Veuve (Yellow Label for the base level tour) or a tasting depending on your tour package. I really enjoyed learning more about the history of this iconic brand – it was certainly a slick and sophisticated experience.

Medium: Champagne G. Tribuat

Champagne G. Tribuat is located in Hautvilliers, the home of the Abbey where Dom Perignon lived. The vineyards have been owned and operated by the same family since 1935, with the fourth generation now involved.

A new tasting room was completed in April 2017, not long before my visit in early November. It’s a modern, glass extension on the existing barn structure and looks out over rolling hills and extensive vineyards. I wouldn’t exactly call it charming, it’s very modern, but it will no doubt be a useful space during the busy summer months and the view is spectacular.

I arrived during a busy period for the workers and a quiet period for visitors – orders were being packed, windows washed and all the other tasks that need to be done between the end of harvest and real winter beginning. I was the only tourist in the 45 minutes I was there. This meant my tasting was a pretty efficient experience! It wasn’t unfriendly, and I think if you had arrived in a group it probably would have been a bit less awkward, but I felt a little bit inconvenient and in the way!

But, Mme. Tibault poured me three champagnes and gave me a brief run down on each for €10. I tried the Cuvée de Réserve, the Rosé and the Blanc de Blanc. The idea of pouring all at once is to allow you to taste and compare between the three.

Once I got over my initial self-consciousness, I actually really enjoyed just taking my time and looking at the view whilst I sipped the really very delicious champagne! I think on a sunny day, with a few more people in the tasting room, this would be a very enjoyable experience indeed.

Small: Roger-Constant Lemaire

I discovered this delightful place through my AirBnb host. Sarah had left me a bottle of the Champagne Cuvee Trianon in the fridge and it was delicious – citrus and brioche with fine, delicate bubbles. She had mentioned the winery was worth a visit so I headed to Viller-Sous Chatillion, not far from Hautvillers.

As I drove into the small, empty car park it was clear this was definitely a small, family run business and I felt a bit strange wandering in unannounced during what is definitely off-peak season at the start of November! But I couldn’t have been welcomed more warmly by Brigitte (mum) and Sébastien (son) and when they discovered I was staying at Sarah’s apartment (whose partner, it transpired, is also a wine maker and involved in the business) I was practically family! Hilariously, by the time I left about 90 minutes later, I had been offered a commission arrangement to sell their champagne in South America where I was due to arrive a month later. If only a broken ankle hadn’t interrupted, I could be an international wine distributor by now!

The Lemaire family have owned this 12 hectare parcel of land since the late 1800s and have been in full scale champagne production since 1945. This was the first time I heard of the malo-lactic fermentation process used by most champagne makers. None of the Lemaire wines go through this process, meaning they retain all their natural acidity and must be aged at least four years. You can learn more about it here.

This tasting experience was much more familiar to me. It was like a small, boutique cellar door experience in Australia where you meet the actual winemakers and their passion and knowledge is equally as intoxicating as the wines. I didn’t take many photos as it felt too intimate for that and Brigitte and Sébastien were so warm and engaging I just got swept up in the whole experience. I definitely drove away on the wrong side of 0.05 as it was a generous tasting, running through nearly all their varieties, but it felt rude to decline! I was very sorry I was due to return the car in a couple of days otherwise there would have been a case in the boot for sure. As it was, I polished off a few bottles of their gorgeous product before I left France.