This week a bunch of us didn't have class from Wednesday-Friday, so we have 5 whole days off. With five days off I thought we HAD to do something and not just stay near campus sleeping, online, and doing nothing. I had seen a friend here's photo album of a trip to the Champagne region with her French class so I asked her to tell me all about it...
I planned and planned all of Monday and arranged with some vineyards some group tours and learned all about the city of Epernay as I could so I could be a good tour guide. I sent out the invitations online to some friends here and got a really great group of friends together. Round trip to Epernay was 31euro, so it was a total deal! Only an hour and 15 minute train ride away from Paris. It was too perfect to be true. But it was!
We all woke up yesterday at 5am and started our day by leaving for Paris at 6:30am in order to be at the train station, get our tickets (some of us still had to buy some in person), and find our train. It was really early morning, but with that you just feel like it is going to be a really productive day! Leaving so early for Epernay was a good decision, because we wanted to get everything we could out of our day trip away from Paris.
The train ride was actually quite nice. I really enjoy train rides (I actually choose to ride up on the train from San Diego all the time to Irvine...it is easier and sometimes faster than dealing with traffic). It was so funny because the train had cabins of six seats with doors you could close. SO Harry Potter-like. We were all laughing (good thing im not the only Harry Potter fan here on this trip ;) Most of us in the group tend to be morning people once awake so we we chatted all the way to Epernay. Once we got there, the trip was already magical. Crisp air, foggy hills of grapevines, as far as the eye could see...Right then I was really glad we decided to take this trip.
The town is fairly small, lots of little shops, boutiques, hair salons galore? (kind of odd, I guess everyone just gets there hair done all the time), and lots of other fun things to see. Our highlight was this really beautiful park that is in the center by city hall. Between vineyards we would head back to the park with some wine and champagne we bought and just lay in the grass talking, wandering around, and just soaking up the beauty of countryside France. I love the big city life of Paris, but something about Epernay made me want to live in a small village for a month...just to experience it. The FIRST thing I noticed about Epernay were the people: they actually stop for you at cross walks without hand gesturing your stupidity for wanting to cross, they smile at you at the grocery store, the old ladies say bonjour to you, and the crepe man actually talks to you and asks how you are doing and where we are from! The people of Epernay are really nice and friendly...the real people of France. Parisians are just rude and cold faced because they have to be, Paris maybe be a piece of art work, but you have to look like 'hey, dont mess with me' or the crazies approach you. But not to fear if you end up traveling to Paris one day, if you ask for help or directions, they are instantly taken out of their stone faces and are more than happy to kindly help you.
Our first vineyard tour was at la crème de la crème, Möet & Chandon, the home of Dom Perignon Champagne. From the start of walking onto the grounds, it was a beautiful and welcoming with manicured orange trees, creme colored stone with black gates, flowers, (there are lots of flowers in Epernay), and a huge statue of Dom Perignon himself holding a bottle of Champagne. We entered the vineyard and were greeted by the receptionists in beautifully tailored suits (okay, California needs help with tailoring, the suits here are just amazing and I want one). 'J'ai une réservation pour Monsieur Confer avec neuf personnes'...'Ah, Monsieur Confer, right this way'... Advice if going to the vineyards, reserve your spot on their website before, the love it because it means you are not just a tourist popping into the vineyard, but that you planned your visit! The tour started off with a really well put together video about their champagne, comparing it's production with the three grapes they use, to a painter using the three base colors to create every shade and color in the rainbow. It was really interesting.
We then headed down the the cellars! This my friends, is what I had been waiting for. Underneath the city of Epernay exists a vast labyrinth of chalk caves that house the Champagne bottles. On our tour we learned that yes, Champs Elysee in Paris is the most expensive street in all of Europe, but technically, Avenue de Champange is because not only the real estate, but all the billions of dollars worth of champagne that lies beneath its streets...So interesting! The caves were VAST and just wildly impressive. Because the caves are carved (by hand back in the day) out of chalk, the caves are naturally at a constant temperature of 10 degrees Celcius, about 50 degrees Fahrenheit and with a humidity of 80% (when you feel the white chalk walls, they are moist and wet). Down on our tour with our guide, we learned all about the company Möet & Chandon, their different champagnes, the land they own and where they get their grapes, and the process from the vine to the store shelf. From now on, every time I drink champagne, I will honestly appreciate it because you would be amazed at the amount of work that goes into making just one bottle of champagne. We learned about their standard bottles of Möet, which sell for about 30euro at the stores, their Imperials that are finer champagne, what a Vintage is and why it is so special, and all about their bottles of Dom Perignon. Their most expensive retail bottle is their Dom Perignon Rosé which sells for about 600euro. The whole process to me is just absolutely fascinating. The history as well. The vineyard was visited many times and personally invested in my Napoleon the First back in the day...just all so interesting to think about.
At the end of our tour of the caves, it was time for our tastings. We all had a flute of their standard Champagne, then sampled a trio for comparisons. The tasting was mainly just really fun and time for us all to talk about how cool the caves were!!! Our tour guide, Maude, was super nice and extremely knowledgeable about everything Möet and about Champagne. She was super cute and had the greatest French accent. Ahhh, I love French accents! (well, not all of them, some are down right ugly...like some people I guess haha).
The rest of our day was spent exploring the city. We took this little street train called the 'Train Touristique' and it took us all abound the city for about an hour. It was nice to see what was around. Later in the day, Christina and I went to another vineyard to do another cave tour and tasting at a much smaller vineyard called Castellane. It was nice to be able to compare the vineyards and see a smaller production style. Castellane produces only (only?) 2 million bottles a year into the aging caves... Möet on the other hand, produces about 14 million per year to enter the caves and releases probably more. The guide at Möet says that every second of the day and night, a bottle of Möet & Chandon Champagne is popped. So cool!
The day was just magical and so much fun. I am really glad we were able to take this day trip on our long weekend. It has also inspired our group to take more trips around France. Europe is amazing, but our trip to Epernay has really shown us how much really lies within France...
Fun fact for all of you: How to tell the quality of your Champagne? The size of the bubbles...At Möet & Chandon, the bubbles were so fine, like golden fairy dust trickling up to the surface...
More to come perhaps on a weekly basis...
Much love from France... Go buy some French Champagne! Because if it's not from the Champagne region of France...it is just some plain old sparkling wine...
not take advantage of all the opportunities while we are here???
