We visited the Champagne region of France in February. Winter is when many of the large champagne houses (Moet, Veuve) close in order to be able to do ongoing maintenance and reconstruction work of the underground chalk caves.
Despite a number of the Domains being closed, February is still a great time to consider a visit. The air is clean and crisp and there are significantly less tourists, that helped to make it a more enjoyable overall experience.
We arranged for tastings at le Domaine Pommery, one of the larger Domains; Ruinart, that is the largest supplier of Champagne to the local French market; Maison Henriot, that sits between the large and the small as it is one of the smallest of the large domains and one of the largest of the small domains; along with a tasting and tour at Champagne Geoffroy a smaller, family owned and operated facility that provided an insight to the day to day challenges of making great champagne.
In Reims, we visited Domaine Vrankin Pommery and experienced the ‘Henry Vasnier Tour’, that included a tour of their underground cellars (chalk caves) and art exhibitions. The tour starts as you descend the 116 stairs of the spectacular staircase.
The tour of the chalk cellars deep underground is fascinating to see firsthand the enormity of the caves or ‘crayeres’ as they are referred to in France, and to learn their history over time. There are over 250km of cellars carved out of chalk under Reims and are designated part of a UNESCO world heritage site. These extensive underground tunnels are where over 20 million bottles of champagne are stored before they are exported all over the world. During World War II, the caves, sheltered the people of Reims, who set up schools, hospitals in effect entire villages, underground.
At Pommery they have incorporated a number of art installations and hold regular art exhibitions in their caves. Other artwork includes Gustave Navlet’s huge tablets carved directly into the soft chalk.
Whilst in Reims, we also booked in for a cellar tour with Ruinart, at 4 Rue des Crayeres. Ruinart was established in 1768 and is the longest established Champagne House, which also claims to possess the deepest and most spectacular crayeres, as it is the only one to be classified as a national monument. Ruinart was the first of the domains to use the enormous chalk caverns and you can observe score marks that date back to the 3rd century are still visible. Ruinart exports very little of their production, as it is extremely popular among the French with the bulk of their wine production sold domestically.
One of the standout experiences whilst exploring the Champagne region, was our personal invitation for a private tasting at Maison Henriot. Magnifique! Masion Henriot was established in 1808, and our private tasting occurred at Les Aulnos, an 18th century property steeped in champagne making history complete with its exceptional tapestry, the Ovid’s Metamorphoses’; that has been preserved since the Napoleonic empire; its historical wooden press; its cellar; and its beautifully manicured French formal gardens, in Pierry, south of Epernay.
Our Henriot champagne tasting was excellent and provided a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Premier and Grand Crus; the blending of the percentages of the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay; dosage levels; and the size of the beads.
Nearby, in Ay, we visited Champagne Geoffroy. A smaller family run (4th generations) maison with a more authentic hands-on approach. The winemaking is done on site and they use gravity alone to transfer the juice from the press to the winemaking tanks. We tasted three of their champagnes that were a combination of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. A tour of their deep chalk cellars where they age their champagnes for three to eight years depending on the vintages was also a very educational seeing the champagne being stored in the deep chalk caves covered in black mould. Unlike the larger domain houses that have been cleaned for the tours, these caves exhibit more authenticity in this working facility.
We have a Magnum of Grand Cru Cuvee Diaphane, from Avize, in the Cote des Blancs region. The blend is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir and Pinot Menieur, that we are waiting for a special family occasion to open.
