"So are we popping bottles today or what?!"

Today I dragged myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 6am in order to be on the metro by 7am.  By 7:20, we arrived at the nearby Paris Vision tours office for our day trip to Champagne.  There were only seven of us who decided to make the trip, but it was absolutely worth it.


We got off to a bit of a rough start.  Apparently the booking person at the office had scheduled me for a completely different tour, but scheduled the rest of my group right.  On top of that, every seat on the tour was taken and there were no extra spaces.  Fortunately, we were there early, we were patient, polite, and actually spoke french, so the people at the office said that if there were any people missing by 8am, when the bus was supposed to depart, I could take their place.  By 8am there were still a lot of people who hadn't shown up yet, despite the fact that we were told to be there by 7:30.  Too bad, so sad as far as I'm concerned.


By 8:15 we were off.  The ride out of the city was about two hours long.  We took the highways though so we were able to move pretty quickly, and around 10am we pulled into Reims for our first stop.

G.H. Mumm has been around since 1827 and is one of the largest champagne producers in the world.  Every year they produce several million bottles of champagne, and today we got to tour their cellars.  The guide told us about the types of grapes used in champagne (Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay) and how they're pressed, fermented, and bottled.  

We also learned many of the finer points of champagne making, including how sediment ends up in the bottles and how it's frozen and then removed.  Corks are also always straight and cylindrical when they're put into a champagne bottle, but the pressure causes them to warp when they're removed.  The guide also told us a bit about the history of the champagne making process and showed us the different sized bottles used by their champagne house.

I was quite a big fan of the large one on the left (a regular sized bottle is the third from the right), but apparently the bottle is actually more expensive than the wine since they're so tricky to make without shattering.  Fortunately, I did manage to get a picture with one of these very impressive bottles to help you better appreciate the size.

We then left the cellars and went into the tasting room where we were able to try either a glass of sweet or dry champagne.  I chose dry and it was fantastic.  The flavor was bright and crisp and definitely counted as a great first beverage of the day.

We then did a bit of shopping in the store nearby and almost all of us decided to buy something.  It was a bit pricy, but not outrageous, and the champagne was very good.  Definitely worth the splurge.

After this, we went to Reims cathedral.  Though not as large or grand as Notre Dame in Paris, this cathedral was still very impressive.

It was heavily bombed during World War One and almost the entire back half of the cathedral was destroyed.  Restorations are still taking place today, and almost none of the stained glass is original.  However they have done an incredible job in maintaining the outside's original style, while incorporating more modern stained glass to light up the interior.  The effect was definitely quite striking.

After visiting the cathedral we had a break for lunch, so we wandered around the town until we found a pizza place offering inexpensive lunch specials.  I had an orangina (of course) and a calzone.  However, unlike the usual calzones we have, this one was only stuffed with tomato sauce and mushrooms.  On the top of it was melted cheese and ham.  It was different, but completely delicious.  I had no problem finishing the entire thing.  After lunch we walked back to the bus and left Reims for our last stop of the day.

Moet and Chandon is the single most famous Champagne house in the entire world.  It was founded before the United States and makes some of the most expensive and coveted champagnes in the world, including Dom Perignon.

Dom Perignon is the best of the best in terms of champagne, and is named after the monk who discovered the perfect blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay wines in order to make champagne.  Our tour began again in the cellars.  Unlike G.H. Mumm's rather austere and modern wine cellars, Moet and Chandon's cellars look more like a labyrinth.  Our tour guide gave us two rules when we started and that was to not touch anything and not get lost.  Good advice considering the millions of bottles of champagne down there and the dozens of kilometers worth of cellars.

This tour covered much of the same information as our first tour.  The guide told us what champagne was specifically, how it is made, fermented, bottled, aged, etc.  This tour however was quite a bit more eery, simply due to the creepiness of the cellars.  They positively smelled old, like the air had been down the for centuries with no escape, just lots of old wine.

Our champagne tasting here, only offered one wine, their traditional dry champagne.  In terms of flavors, I couldn't tell too much of a difference between G.H. Mumm and Moet and Chandon's dry champagnes, but I'm sure there is one.  The main distinguishing factor I noticed was the carbonation.  Moet and Chandon have much more and much better carbonation.  It was so light and so bubbly that it made my whole mouth tingle when I sipped it.

After we finished our tasting there, we got back onto the bus and headed back to Paris.  By 7pm I was walking out of the ridiculously crowded RER and back in the quieter and more comfortable streets of the Latin Quarter.  Laura and I went to get bread and pastries, then went back to the Foyer.  There I finally had to give in and do laundry (having only one pair of underwear left is a pretty good motivator) for four euros to wash.  The dryer doesn't work, so my room currently looks like what mom would describe as a "gypsy caravan" because I've hung clothing up on every available surface.

We stayed in tonight since today was such an exhausting day.  I've spent the evening and night uploading pictures, making dinner, taking a shower, and now writing my blog.  I have lots of plans for things to get done tomorrow, so the sooner I go to bed, the better off I'll be.