Twas a cool and wet November day and we touched the ground at CDG… Charles De Gaulle airport, Paris in fact. Margaret and I had arrived for a weekend visit to Reims & the Champagne region of France.

We arrived late Friday evening and hired a car for the 90 minute journey to Reims. I’m always a little apprehensive about driving on the continent, given the whole driving on the right thing, and more so that I had hired a manual car, so it does take a little getting used to. More of a concern, was braving the French motorway traffic and crazy French drivers. With all of that to contend with, I always worry about coming off the wrong exit, and end up lost in some dodgy suburb with not a lot of French between Margaret and I to get us out of it. Yep, a bit of a stress pot when it comes to driving in a foreign country as Margaret can attest to. But, after an extraordinary long time in collecting our car from Sixt Car Hire ("Zehr is a problem weeth zee computer Messieur"), we did eventually hit the road.

Apart from some fleeting moments where I wondered whether I had taken the wrong exit from CDG, we did end up on the right road, the A104, sign posted for Marne de Valle. The A104 arcs around the north east of Paris and eventually joins up with the A4, which is the main eastern arterial route from Paris to glorious destinations like Euro Disney, Reims, Metz & Strasbourg on the French/German border.  Despite all my stressing, we did make it to the A4 and to Reims without incident. The only surprise really were the 3 toll-ways, so there was some frantic scrambling for Euro coins on 3 separate occasions.

When arriving on the outskirts of Reims, we bypassed the town centre, and stuck to the A4, eventually coming off at Junction 26, following signs for Louvois, and headed south for the 15 minute journey to the Champagne village of Ludes, where we would be staying for the weekend. Ludes is a quaint village, and it was nice to see some traditional looking houses & champagne frontages. We got to see a bit of the village as we got a little lost. A quick phone call to the Champagne House we were staying at and we were all okay. Ployez Jacquemart (http://www.au-chateau.com/Ployez.htm) was the Champagne house in question and we were greeted by Benedicte, one of the staff, at the gate on arrival.

Ployez Jacquemart are a small Champagne House, and it was part of our overall plan to experience 3 Champagne Houses over the weekend, all of different sizes. Ployez was the smallest, Ruinart in Reims was the next one, and then followed by the larger scale of Mercier in Epernay.

Ployez Jacquemart is perhaps unique, in that because it is small (circa production of 6,000 bottles per year), they also offer Bed & Breakfast, in their beautiful turn of the century built house. The champagne house itself has been running since 1930 and while owned by another company, it is still managed by the Jacquemart family, namely Laurence, her young children and the dog Princess. Pleased we had arrived unscathed from the French traffic and bizarre continental driving rules we hit the hay anticipating some champagne tasting.

A beautiful sunny day in Ludes greeted us on Saturday, December 1st. After breakfast, we had our first tour of a champagne house, it’s cellars and operation. We were quite amazed at the whole process of production. I thought I had a reasonable understanding of how champagne was made, but really it is fascinating.

Champagne Fact 1: The champagne cellars are literally caverns carved from chalk. Chalk pervades the Champagne region and not only is it a key factor in how the champagne is stored and matured, it is also a key factor in the growing of the grapes they use in the champagne process. Something very unique to the region. The cellars of Ployez were originally an old chalk mine, and then they were converted into cellars. The humidity and regulated temperature of the chalk caverns make it ideal for allowing champagne to ferment and also age beautifully. It was fascinating to see the bottles stacked in rack after rack deep below the beautiful sunny grounds of the champagne house.

Our guide, then gave us the low down on how Champagne is actually made, from the grapes used, the pressing of the grapes, blending with other wines from previous years – the cuvee, to the fermenting: insertion of yeast & sugars into the bottle, the fermenting (bottle is horizontal for this) and then once fermented the bottle is stacked inverted at an angle, so the yeast sediment sinks to the cork end. Painstaking and meticulous rotations of the bottle by hand ensure the sediment all heads cork wards. Once this process is done, the bottle is taken through a process of disgorgement. This is where the head of the bottle containing the sediment is frozen, and by atmospheric pressure ejected from the bottle, leaving a fresh and clean looking champagne. Interesting point of note, is that when the bottle is fermenting, that’s when the champagne can be left to age and mature. Once the sediment is removed, then the bottle is pretty much ready to be drunk and has a shelf life of a few years.

Champagne Fact 2: Champagne can be made from a blend of black and white grapes. There are 3 types of grape used in the champagne region. Pinot Noir (Dark grape), Pinot Meunier (Dark Grape) and Chardonnay. Typically Champagne is a blend of the juices from all 3 grapes. In some cases, a Champagne may be made from Chardonnay only, which results in a Blanc de Blancs. (White of Whites). A vintage means that grapes are selected from a years particular harvest, and a non-vintage means that the champagne is a result of mixing with wines from previous years. This is to maintain the quality.

Champagne Fact 3: Champagne bottles are very strong, and can withstand between 6 to 10 atmospheres of pressure. So no worries about putting it in the suitcase.

I have probably bored you with facts, but I found it pretty fascinating. The process is largely unchanged, aside from equipment making it easier to produce on a larger scale. Anyway, our tour of Ployez’ cellars over, we had our first champagne tasting. The most important bit, and one we were champing on. We sampled their Rose Champagne and also their standard one. Both were nice and we bought a bottle of the Rose. Incidentally, Rose Champagne is made using the skins of Pinot Noir and also by blending it with Red Wine to bring up the colour. I thought that was cheating a little.

A little shaken but not stirred, we headed to the car and then drove into Reims for lunch, with a view to visit Ruinart Champagne House in the afternoon. Reims, now there is a French word I struggled with. Reims, pronounced in French sounds something like Rohns, but that doesn’t really cut it, because every time I tried I was corrected by a bemused French person. There is some guttural rolling of the "r" you need to do, which is the linguistic equivalent of me trying to do the splits. It wasn’t gonna happen, without me pulling a muscle.

We arrived in Reims and took a look at the amazing cathedral there, surprisingly called Notre Dame. It would appear if you are a cathedral in France, then you are called Notre Dame – in the same way a white sparkling wine manufactured in the Champagne Ardenne region is referred to as Champagne. A quick lunch, was then followed by browsing through the Reims Christmas markets. The market stalls were brightly coloured and very cool. Worth a look if in Reims at this time of year.

We made it to Ruinart Champagne House at 3:30pm for our reserved appointment. (http://www.ruinart.com) It was all a bit grand and official, especially when we were greeted by a security box and a boom gate. You can’t just show up at this one. The tour was great. We had a really animated hostess, and while the champagne process was pretty much the same as Ployez, this was on a much larger scale. We descended into an 8km network of chalk caverns, which houses stacks upon stacks of thousands upon thousands of maturing bottles of Champagne. A couple of interesting points we learned at Ruinart. Ruinart is the oldest champagne house in France. Our guide also informed that 1996 is a particularly good year, and we were pleasantly surprised when we were given a sample of a Vintage 1996 cuvee at the time of tasting. This may also explain the 21 Euro per head price tag on the tour. Merci! Ruinart also will take group bookings for lunches and dinners, which was demonstrated by boistorous random choruses of French singing coming from the room adjacent to the tasting area. We bought a bottle of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Champagne (non-vintage) and then made our way back to Ludes for dinner.

Dinner was a brilliant experience and not without amusing incident. We ate at a restaurant called Le Grande Cerf, which is situated just past the village of Villers-Allerand. Once you hit the N51 past the village turn left towards Epernay on the N51 and it’s 100 metres on your right.

There was a choice of a set menu or a-la-carte, and we opted for Le Surprise Menu, a 7 course feast in fine French cuisine and washed down with Ployet Jacquemart Champagne & a bottle of Bollinger. Yes, we went all out. Thought it would be something of note to sink a bottle of Bolly, while in the Champagne region. Now, let’s see if I can recall all of the Le Surprise menu.

The starter, Dish No. 1, was a Pumpkin soup, laced with a fine cream and almonds. Very nice. The next dish, Dish No. 2, resembled a puree of raw prawns and shell fish, adorned with a rim of caviar and a couple of gleaming roe for good measure. This was followed by probably our favourite dish of the night. Enter Dish No.3, – scallops atop of another shellfish puree. Yummy, all going swimmingly at this point, apart from one of the stern looking waitresses, looking askance at the couple who didn’t speak French in the corner (That would be us). That said, the Maitre D was very friendly and an absolute gentleman. Dish No. 4 was Sea Bass atop a mixture of fennel, onion & oysters. Very nice indeed. Only problem was, that half way through, I noticed a hair glinting at me from under my succulent sea-bass. I was in two-minds as to call the waiter, as I was getting full at this point, and didn’t really want to have to gorge another sea-bass. But after much insistance at adhering to standards of French quality from Margaret, I informed the Maitre D of the errant French hair. The look of disgust on his face and the volley of apologies coming my way were very amusing. The dish was unceremoniously whisked away, and no doubt a wailing and gnashing of chef angst was going on in the kitchen as a result. Soon enough a new sea-bass dish arrived, and despite my concern over being full, I polished it off quick-smart, in time for an official apology in the form of  complimentary glasses of Ployez Rose. So Margaret and I were pretty happy at this point.

Dish No.5 was served, and looked to be a meat dish. Much relief for Margaret who had had enough of seafood at this point. "What is this called?" Margaret enquired of the Maitre D. "Veal Sweet-Breads madame", he replied enthusiastically. "A delicacy madame!". The Maitre D left, and then Margaret turned to me with a look of grave disgust and asked "What did he just say?" "Veal Squid-Breath?" Clearly, Margaret was worried more sea-food was on the way, and she was obviously worried a French dish of the sinister persuasion was going to be thrust upon her.

I clarified it for her though. "Margaret, it’s not Veal Squid Breath!", I said with a chuckle (Although what a brilliant name for a dish). "Um, it is actually Veal Sweet Breads!".

"So, what’s that then?", Margaret asked

"I think it’s pancreas, it’s actually worse than you feared! SURPRISE!!!!", I grinned.

Despite her disgust though, at least Margaret tried to eat it, even if it was only devouring the chestnut gravy. Actually, I was a little wrong in my own assessment of what we ate. In actual fact Sweet Breads is typically the thymus gland, part of the throat muscle from a calf or sheep. Pancreas can be used, but it is an inferior substitute. I learned this later when I searched it on my phone (Thanks Wikipedia). Nothing like a bit of gristle in the meal. After that little Le Surprise, we moved onto Dish No. 6, which was a magnificent cheese board. I’m not a big cheese person, but I tried some Brie and another type of cheese, the French name of which escapes me. I had consumed enough Champagne at this point, hence the memory was lapsing. And finally Dish No. 7, was dessert which was an assortment of different little morsels of sorbet and pud. Very nice.

All of the above we consumed over a 4 hour period, so despite the bottle of Bollinger and other Ployez apologetic champagne consumed, we were quite sober. And, so we headed back to Ployez Jacquemart, just a short drive away. We arrived safe and sound, hit the sack.. Margaret tossing and turning dreaming of young calves with breath that smelled of rank squid.

The following day, Sunday, the weather made a turn for the worse. It was pretty miserable. Pelting rain. We regaled our dinner exploits of the previous evening to Laurent Ployez, on whose recommendation we had visited the restaurant. Margaret, spoke of the disgust at eating sweet-breads. Laurent laughed and said "Sweet-breads are nice, no? They are much nicer than brains!" Ah yes this was a fleeting glance into the French gastronomical psyche. I half expected Hannibal Lector to come join us for breakfast and inform that he enjoyed Veal Sweet-breads with a good bottle of Chianti. Except chianti is Italian and we were in France, and I’m digressing.

First, on the cards for the day’s itinerary, was to visit the hamlet of Hautvillers on the outskirts of Epernay, and the burial place for Dom Perignon – that infamous monk whose legacy is a great champagne. We did this in driving rain and were a little disappointed that the Abbey where his grave is, was closed. We did visit the adjacent church though, and were appeased a little when we at least saw a flag-stone at the alter etched with an epitaph for the Dom.

Afterwards we visited the town of Ay, again on the outskirts of Epernay, and this village plays host to some big names of the Champagne world like Deutz & Bollinger. We found Bollinger, but it was a bit underwhelming. We were hoping for a grand emblazoned sign for a photo opportunity, but it was a bit dull. And so onwards for our last official Champagne House Visit, and that of Mercier, just outside the city centre of Epernay, on Avenue de Champagne.

Mercier (http://www.champagnemercier.fr/anglais/home.htm) was certainly more geared up for tourists than the other champagne houses we had visited. There were hoards of tourists there, all taking in the spectacle of the enormous champagne barrel, "Le Foudre", which Eugene Mercier had lugged all the way to Paris (With the help of some rather robust steers & wagons) to the world fair in the 19th century. We were a little disappointed when they informed there wasn’t an English tour for another hour, and this was gonna mess with our schedule to get Margaret and car back to CDG on time. So we opted for the French tour. It wasn’t that bad actually. The video was bi-lingual (English-French) and this was followed subsequently by a rail-car tour of their chalk cavern network. This tour was in French. But, Margaret’s French was still pretty good to help with the translation for me. Quite impressed with Margaret on this front actually.  Mercier’s chalk cavern’s are even larger than Ruinart, they simply go on forever. So much champagne stacked to the hilt, unbelievable scale. The size of Mercier’s champagne production is mind-boggling. The tour was capped off with some more tasting. 3 Champagnes were on offer. 2 vintages, 2002 and 2003, and then a Rose. All quite nice, and we made a purchase of the 2002 vintage.  With champers consumed, we hit the road for the trip back to Paris & CDG.

The journey back to CDG was tough. Driving cross-winds and rain, and enclosing night, proved to make it difficult and nerve-wracking. But we made it back okay, and in time to drop the car off and say farewell to Margaret. Mags was on a flight back to London, and I was on my way to Paris for a couple of days work. Two days later, I caught the Eurostar back to their new London Terminus, St Pancreas…. um, strike that, I mean… St Pancras.

All in all a great trip, and would highly recommend a visit to the region. You can check out our photos in the latest album, and also some video in the MSN Soapbox clip to the right of this page. You can also see a map of the places we visited below on the Microsoft, Virtual Earth map…