That was theme of this weekend. On Friday we (Thomas, Floris, Joost, Elco and me) left for Reims, for a Saturday full of champagne and whatever we came across. We had booked a hotel which turned out to be a motel in an industrialized area, but we weren’t going to be there anyway.

On Saturday morning we had a fairly early breakfast and drove to Verzy to visit the first Champagne House, Alain Lallement. A very small house (about 25.000 bottles per year) that does everything in town. Ringing the door and asking for a taste at someone’s home felt very weird. A good Cuvee Prestige Brut though! I wasn’t too thrilled about the rosé champagne. The Cuvee Prestige was very crisp and a little bit dry, but the flavours were all right and it was dangerously drinkable. Even at 10 AM!

After that we went on our way to Ay, with a stop at Guillon Distillerie (more about that tomorrow) We visited Canard Duchêne on our way (4 million bottles). We were welcomed for the booked tour of the vineyards and cellars. No production facilities this time. The tour was fun, and very informative. It was ended by another glass of champagne, and I had the Authentic Green, of which the first fermentation is done on oak barrels instead of in stainless steel. This gave the wine a bit more subtleness and a more round body, in my opinion. Absolutely loved it!

After that we drove around a bit for another visit, which turned out a bit useless since most houses we came across were closed (France on a Saturday afternoon…). After a late lunch we went back into Reims for a visit to G.H. Mumm (25.000.000 million bottles). A truly massive estate in downtown Reims which indicates they’ve been raking in money since they started 200 years ago. A highly commercial tour in which the guide was ‘uhm’ing more than enjoyable and he tried to make us believe Mumm is the company that created and ruled the universe. We did the ‘Grand Cru’ tour which included some extra special champagnes. We still felt a bit robbed afterwards since we paid € 8 per tiny glass and the really special ones were only promoted, not tasted. Some extra treatment would be nice for a € 24 euro tour.

After that, dinner and beers in town, with the beers being supplied by ‘Les 3 Brasseurs‘, a local and huge brewpub of which I’ll blog later!