I love the French breakfast, small dishes of yoghurt and fruit, jams, croissants and other pastries, fruit juice and coffee. Great way to start the day.
Choc and I then headed of to do some explorations of the champagne region, and some tastings. Choc has been to this area before so that helped. Unfortunately the rain followed us from Belgium, and it wasn't very warm so that was a little disappointing.
First stop on the agenda was Mercier champagne house. It is one of the bigger ones, but also has a fascinating history. The popularity of the brand over the years was due to the self-promotion of the founder Eugene Mercier (1847). He used a number of publicity stunts, including building the biggest wine barrel (160,000 litres) that was transported to the local show all those years ago - requiring houses to be knocked down to make way etc. Nowdays the Mercier family still owns the champagne house, and have a laser-guided train that takes people on a tour of the cellars below. It was fun but also really informative. Best part was the 3 glasses of champers at the end with the guy telling us the differences between each.
To sober up (not really, it was only 3 glasses), Choc and I wandered along the main street of Epernay past the various other champagne houses. The buildings in themselves were gorgeous. Most of the champagne houses I did not know but was really pleased to see a statue of the following fellow:
We had lunch in Epernay in a little cafe (most of the shops were closed for siesta), then jumped back in the car and headed to Herbert Beaufort in Bouzy, a champagne house that Choc has been to before. Their champagne is lovely, so Choc stocked up to take back to Belgium, and I got a bottle for myself.
We would've liked to have visited more places but some of the champagne houses weren't open or closed for an extended period over lunch (3 hours) so we weren't in time for a tasting.
We went for a drive around the region:
then headed back to Epernay (not many other places open) for a couple of beers, then dinner. I don't know how the French keep their figures when they eat such rich food! The meal was good, traditionally French.
We didn't get back to our accommodation til about 9pm that night so overall, it was a long but fun day.
Choc and I then headed of to do some explorations of the champagne region, and some tastings. Choc has been to this area before so that helped. Unfortunately the rain followed us from Belgium, and it wasn't very warm so that was a little disappointing.
First stop on the agenda was Mercier champagne house. It is one of the bigger ones, but also has a fascinating history. The popularity of the brand over the years was due to the self-promotion of the founder Eugene Mercier (1847). He used a number of publicity stunts, including building the biggest wine barrel (160,000 litres) that was transported to the local show all those years ago - requiring houses to be knocked down to make way etc. Nowdays the Mercier family still owns the champagne house, and have a laser-guided train that takes people on a tour of the cellars below. It was fun but also really informative. Best part was the 3 glasses of champers at the end with the guy telling us the differences between each.
To sober up (not really, it was only 3 glasses), Choc and I wandered along the main street of Epernay past the various other champagne houses. The buildings in themselves were gorgeous. Most of the champagne houses I did not know but was really pleased to see a statue of the following fellow:
We had lunch in Epernay in a little cafe (most of the shops were closed for siesta), then jumped back in the car and headed to Herbert Beaufort in Bouzy, a champagne house that Choc has been to before. Their champagne is lovely, so Choc stocked up to take back to Belgium, and I got a bottle for myself.
We would've liked to have visited more places but some of the champagne houses weren't open or closed for an extended period over lunch (3 hours) so we weren't in time for a tasting.
We went for a drive around the region:
We didn't get back to our accommodation til about 9pm that night so overall, it was a long but fun day.
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