Today, as Jake would say, we had an interesting and educational day touring the Champagne caves of Epernay.
We started our day with a tour of the Moët & Chandon establishment in the Avenue de Champagne. Not only did we learn that you do pronounce the 't' in Moët and that Reims is pronounced 'Rance' but we also learnt about the champagne making process from beginning to end as we toured some of the 28 kilometres of Moët & Chandon's 300 year old chalk champagne caves. In fact under the one kilometre long Ave de Champagne, which is home to some of the biggest names in French champagne, there are over 120km of champagne caves.
By the end of the tour we could understand how champagne can be so expensive. It is a rather labour intensive process which starts with the hand picking of grapes, 3 fermentation stages and not to mention the hand riddling(the slight turning and progressive upward tilting) of up to 35 000 bottles per day.
Back when champagne was first created they used to leave the sediment in the bottle, which is why champagne flute stems used to be hollow. It was Veuve Cliquot who invented the process of riddling to remove the sediment. In her day they had to be expert in opening the bottles whilst tilted upside down to spurt out the sediment but be quick enough to seal it with their thumb before they lost too much. Nowadays it involves freezing the very top of the bottle whist it is upside down. The sediment icecube is then popped out very quickly and easily thanks to the pressure of the contents in the bottle when it is inverted.
Of course the highlight of the tour was the two glasses of vintage champagne at the end. And then it was time for some champagne shopping at the fabulously affordable local prices. Unfortunately the Dom Perignon, seen below undergoing part of its 30 year fermentation process ...
... was still a long way out of our budget. But a bubbly loving girl can only try!
Gayle
Location:Epernay, France
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