Champagne bubbles / France 3

The day after our arrival in Epernay, we visited two producers of champagne. That means, we started drinking at 10 am…
Luckily the weather was warm and sunny, which allowed us to appreciate the wide landscapes, the small villages, the vineyards, the corn fields. The main colours that I remember from that region are green and pale yellow. Green are the vineyards (because it’s summertime, of course), the top of the hills with their compact vegetation, the trees along the streets. Pale yellow are the country houses, the corn fields and…. the champagne in our glasses!
The first producer we visited was Veuve Godart et Fils a family run company in Moussy, a small village near Epernay. Everything there was so genuine, real and authentic. The owner was pouring champagne in small glasses from behind the counter, explaining things with few simple words, and packing cartons of the bottles we ordered, all at the same time. Their tasting room was also warehouse, workshop and kitchen, all in one place. And their champagne was very good, genuine and rustic, it tasted a little bit like fresh mowed grass. We bought 6 bottles of Vieille Réserve at a very correct price.
Then we moved to Reims, the capital of Champagne, a beautiful and elegant city with a spectacular cathedral, which is really worth a visit, especially for its artistic glass windows (both ancient and more recent, some by Marc Chagall).
After a quick lunch on a terrace we went to the worldwide famous Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. We had reserved a visit since few weeks and we got a complete and exhaustive visit by a very professional PR who explained to us the origins, the story of Madame Ponsardin who married Mr. Clicquot and after his premature death (‘veuve’ means widow) took over the management of their winery, on a very modern and revolutionary way for a woman in that period (mid-19th century!).
He explained all processes of production, from the vineyard to the bottle, and guided us through the incredible cellars, called Crayères, huge underground chalk galleries, where wine is stored and matured. The visit ended with the tasting of their famous Brut, which is very refined and delicate, very different from the one we tasted in the morning.

We closed the day with a delicious dinner in an elegant restaurant in Epernay, Le Théâtre owned by a Belgian guy, that treated us in the best way.
It was the last night with our Belgian friends and in the Champagne region and we toasted friendship and good wine!

Holiday in France