Champagne: bubbles of happiness.

My 0735 train meant that I missed breakfast (sad) but I was able to visit the Notre-Dame de Reims before visiting some champagne cellars. It was a nice train ride, through the countryside; vines of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier scattered the fields. The cathédrale on Reims is absolutely beautiful. I was wondering if seeing this cathédrale would mean that the N-D de Paris would not be as beautiful. After walking around the inside and the outside of the cathdral, I strolled through Reims central to Vranken Pommery. I was excited to see the Tattinger cellars on the way, but seeing Pommery was even more awesome! The Pommery cellers are in a castle! It looks like a Disney castle!

the facade of Notre-Dame de Reims

 Inside the cathédrale

I didn't visit here :(

 Disney-Pommery

I was there early, but I rested in the reception and checked out the wine that was awaiting my tasting and my money! Then an alarm went off, and I kind of ignored it (I'm on holidays), but one of the Pommmery ladies came over and spoke in French to me. Like I had any idea what was going on. Apparently it was a mock evacuation! So I was evacuated from Champagne Vranken Pommery! While waiting outside on the lawn, I was told that the old man in the dark green suit was the grand son of Madame Lousie Pommery! Madame Lousie Pommery was the head of the maison when her husband died, and the Pommery grand cru, Cuvée Louise is named after her! I can't afford that one.

 going 30metres down into the Pommery crayère

The cellars are in crayère, about 30 meters under the ground, and they are the optimum temperature for champagne (10-12deg. C). It was exceptionally nice down their because it was 37 outside! This was the fourth time that I have heard the champagne making process. It was so much clearer when you actually see the bottles in the different stages of their fermentation; when Chris Barnes and Ken Chase explained it on a white board it took about 3 times for it to click! But they have bottles hanging on the wall so that you can actually see the sediment that had collected on the side during fermentation. It's very cool. The crayère are also filled with art, some is strange, but there are many pieces that have actually been sculpted into the chalk, many are by Gustave Nablet. It was only a 30 minute tour, so I didn't love it, but it was still really great.

 the bottles stacked on an angle so that the sediment slides into the neck of the bottle

After the tour I had 2 glasses of champagne awaiting me. It was a difficult choice (there were 6 different champagnes to choose from), but I settled on a rosé champagne and a vintage (I preferred the vintage). I wish I compiled tasting notes, but really, I just wanted to enjoy them. After drinking 2 glasses simultaneously, a bit of rosé, a bit of vintage, I went to the boutique to take some Pommery home with me. I didn't want to buy a whole bottle because a) I really didn't want to carry it around, and b) I didn't want to waste it/abuse it by drinking alone. So I got two picolo bottles of their 'pop', one is a grand cru. I hate to say this, as I associate champagne with all things classy, but Pommery 'pop' is the party champagne, that you "drink through a straw". But like I said, I didn't want a whole bottle!

 decisions, decisions...

 rosé champage and a vintage

After lunch in a garden, I walked down the road to the Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin cellars. They weren't as grand as the Disney/Pommery cellars, but more cute, like a cottage. Inside everything is clicquot yellow, with a dash of pink (it came in with the rosé champagne in 2004). This tour also focused on a woman, Madame Ponsardin, who was the widow of Clicquot (veuve is French for widow). She took over the maison, like Madame Louise did at Pommery and continued to sell the champagne of the house. A lot of the things said in this tour were said in the Pommery one, but I also knew a lot already from wine camp. It was still really amazing, and it was unique (both were) because I was learning about each maison, and about how they worked, and of the women who fronted these champagnes. Seeing everything also makes understanding the méthode Champenoise process so much more clear.  The tour was longer, and we went through the cellars, where each room is labeled a different name of a different city that has been conquered. They have a Gustave Nablet chalk sculpture in their cellars, too.

 Cute, and humble, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin

 

1989, my vintage step!

At the end of the tour the had a glass of the 1998 la grande Madame grand cru. It was delicious. I wished that I could have afforded a bottle! I bought a half bottle of their demi-sec champagne, though, and I saw how to open a bottle of champagne with a sommelier towel, so I bought one, too, and it's also my non-perishable souvenir from V.C.P!

La Grande Madame, yum!

(champagne) kisses! xx