Bubbles for a day October 10, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Travel , trackbackEarly on a chilly Parisien autumn morning, I strolled to the Gare de l’Est and caught the train to Reims, the heart of Champagne. With the International Herald Tribune and an espresso in hand, the hour and forty minutes passed quickly and soon we were passing through Epernay with vineyards lining the sloping countryside.
I hadn’t been very organised, apart from looking through some websites before leaving London, so I was at a bit of a loss when I arrived. I know you could visit Tattinger with no appointment, but didn’t have a map or any idea about any of the others.
First stop then was the tourist information office. I figured it would be close to the cathedral, which was badly damaged during both world wars, along with the rest of Reims, and all its stained glass destroyed, but the building has been repaired and it stands looming gigantic over the city. There is a lot to see and do in Reims other than the Champagne houses - excellent museums and the cathedral - but I was here for the bubbles.
With the aid of a map and a bus pass, I managed to see three houses - Piper Heidsieck, Tattinger and Mumms.
The first was Piper Heidsieck, the first French champagne I ever tasted, back in the late ’80s on a wine waiters course I did in New Zealand. French Champagne was extremely expensive and not common in NZ then, at least not for me, and I still remember how it contrasted with the local methode champenoise of the day - dryer and with far smaller, more delicate bubbles.
The tour here is perhaps best described as touristy, if not tacky then definitely a created ‘Champagne Experience’. I don’t believe Piper Heidsieck actually make Champagne in central Reims any more, and instead they have turned the cellars into a series of displays. You buy your ticket and go down about 20 metres underground to the cellars where you board a small electric car and select your language. For the next thirty minutes or so, you are taken through the tunnels, and told the story of Piper Heidsieck and the champagne making process. If you’re on your own, as I was, this is a bit odd as the tunnels are dark. It’s not a trip for the claustrophobic.
Next stop was the venerable, and significantly more upmarket Taittinger. The woman on the door spoke such clear French that I decided to go on a French-speaking tour rather than wait until the afternoon thus rather over-stretching my linguistic abilities, but I managed to follow most of it, I think. This was a proper tour of the caves, down in the chisled limestone parts of which were originally the cellars of the church above, and the house of the Comtes de Champagne. The oldest part of the caves is an excavated pyramid dating back to the 4th century AD.
At about 15m below ground the limestone is permanently damp with mould growing prolifically, and the temperature consistently chilled. Rows upon rows of bottles filled the caverns, stretching out into the dark. Apparently there are 20km of tunnels here, filled with Champagne.
My third, and final, stop was at Mumm. This tour placed far more emphasis on the production of Champagne, and the industrial processes behind it. The house is a little out of the city, near the station, and it is clearly a working factory with great stainless steel vats which the other houses hide carefully from visitors view. Like Tattinger, it was a proper tour of the cellars, as well as a small museum of machines used in champagne-making, such as this device for moving the sediment into the neck of the bottles so that it can be frozen and expelled.
Of course, every tour ends with a tasting, though I seem to have caught the poor tour guide at an odd moment here.
Comments»
Bubbles are great, but did you see the jackdaw?
p.s. I LOVE the kiwi picture at the top!
Dear Camden Kiwi,
just read your article, am actually working at Piper, just to tell you you have seen our true cellars!