We woke up to the shining sun today, which was quite a relief after all the rain we’ve had this past week. Today’s a day trip to Epernay, only 25km south of here and the center of the Champagne region.

I’d read about some of the little towns around Epernay for potential visits, and we decided to make Hautvillers our first stop. It is the most quaint town and exactly as I imagined Champagne should be. We went to the church where Dom Perignon, the monk who made champagne what it is today, is buried. It was refreshing to walk into a worn-out, smaller church after being in the colossal ones we’ve visited thus far. It felt so small town.

We walked along the streets, where there are numerous champagne houses, stone houses abutting the street. The first we visited was a tasting room and antique store. Stefan’s mom has a thing for what she calls “junk stores”; she would have loved this place.

//Stefan Note: Mama would have loved it.  They had stacks of dog paintings from old times.

It is a bit off-putting that the tastings are a expensive (at least 5 Euros each) and you receive just one type of champagne.

//Stefan Note: Althought you get a full glass as a ‘tasting’

I much prefer the California tasting experience of a bit of education and the opportunity to taste and compare different styles side-by-side. They also make little effort to sell you bottles if you are tasting. I presume the assumption is you are either there to buy cases of wine or to taste. Again, a different approach from California.

We stopped by Au 36 for a side-by-side tasting, and I was thankful for a bit more education. This place is lovely, and I’d highly recommend it for anyone in the area. The women working there are friendly and helpful in a down-to-earth way. They also have interesting food tasting plates to accompany the champagne tastings. We had one with a sample of local food specialties. It was amazing. Lillian loved it all. Without taking a bit, Oly deemed it “yucky” and waited for dessert. 2 year olds. The kids loved the grape juice tasting made up of a white and red juice from local grapes. They felt very sophisticated. The white, made from Muscat grapes, was the favorite.

After enjoying simple and sweet Hautvillers, we drove the few minutes into Epernay. Unfortunately we arrived around 1:30, and everything in town closes by 2:00. All the beautiful restaurants recommended in my guidebook were full, so we grabbed sandwiches from a chain store and sat outside. It was still nice. It’s like we can’t go wrong no matter what here. 

Rue de Champagne is the must-see street of Epernay with all the big Champagne houses. It’s quite long, but we walked to the end with the kids. It was very quiet, and most of the houses weren’t open. I think most are still private residences, which may serve wine at times, but were not open then. It was hard to tell where you were invited and where you were not. We went to one tasting room, which looked lovely. The winemakers live in this beautiful mansion and make champagne. What a life. There was more of a snooty vibe here, though. We prefer Reims and Hautvillers.

//Stefan Note: Stefan over snoottville of Rue de Champagne

Before heading out of town, we stopped at Castellane, a large production Champagne house just off the Rue de Champagne. It has a beautiful tower that caught our attention. The English tour was just starting so we joined along. The caves here are much newer and the process in general has been mechanized a lot more than at Taittinger. The tour was focused more on the history and progression of wine making. There were fake people set up throughout, which was a bit strange.

The Champagne we tasted at the end was very good. And the wines here are more reasonably priced (likely due to the mechanization of the wine-making process).

We walked through the museum they have. Pretty dull. And then Lillian made us walk up the 200+ steps to the top of the tower. The view is very nice from up there. Worth it.

We decided to drive “the Champagne Route” on the way home. There are 3 different routes, very clearly labeled. It’s a very nice thing the region has done for visitors. We drove through fields of vines and through tiny towns. It was unbelievably charming. I would have preferred spending more of the day doing that than in Epernay. We feel like we got a complete Champagne experience though.

//Stefan Note: We drove by Armanagc “Ace of Spades” and I got out and talked to Jay.

Now to make some healthy food (we are craving it) and have a quiet night at home.