Brussel Spouting: Bubbly Champagne and Giggly Girls

Here are some pictures from our girls' trip to Champagne, France in early October. Me and my friends Ali, Stephanie and Betsy, who was visiting from Atlanta, set out for a girly weekend of tasting and buying champagne. We used the town of Epernay as our home base as was recommended by the guidebooks and websites that I read. The reason is that this is where many of the big, famous champagne houses such as Mercier, Perrier-Joüet, Castellane, & Moët et Chandon (the producers of Dom Pérignon) are located. The other comparable town is Reims. While the Avenue de Champagne (the street that is home to many of the Grandes Maisons) is lined with many beautiful buildings, Epernay itself is not a very attractive town. Moreover, we found that we were not that impressed with the champagne that we tried at two of the houses we visited. The champagne is mass produced and, therefore, standardized to always have a certain taste...and not necessarily a good one! However, we had interesting tours at both Mercier and Castellane. At Mercier, we took a train through the ancient caves and at Castellane, we got a good history of champagne production. If you are interested in learning about how champagne is made and seeing the caves where it is housed, the big champagne houses are the places to be. However, if you are interested in visiting quaint, picturesque villages and drinking great campagne, head to the countryside and visit the smaller houses.

We finally got in the groove on the second day and did just that. We went to the town of Mesnil-Sur-Oger where we tasted champagne at two different places. These places were superb! The atmosphere was warm and cozy as was the hospitality. Also, the champagne was delicious! In addtition to tasting champagne, we went to a local food and wine market where we bought some cheese. It was there that we met one of the owners of the Robert Charlemagne champagne house. She was working at the market with her husband. I decided to try out my French and inquire about good champagne houses in the area. Her response was "My place, of course". "Where is that?" I asked. "Why, it's right across the street". We waited a few minutes for her to finish some things up and then she invited us to her home for a private tasting. She sat with us and chatted about her life and her family's business. She was very interesting and her English was really good. We all bought several bottles of her champagne as it was the best we tasted all weekend. We left with smiles on our faces as that is the kind of experience you don't get at the large, corporate champagne houses!

We had a lot of fun and I gained a new appreciation for Champagne. I never found champagne to be very drinkable before. When I visit the area again, however, I am not going to make the rookie mistake of going to Epernay. I'll find a nice B&B in the countryside and stick to the champagne houses along the "Route du Champagne".

MERCIER

EPERNAY, FRANCE