Kate_W

My husband and I have lived in Paris now for a little over a year, but have hardly had the time yet to explore the country. It has been a difficult year (moving overseas, a new job for me with very long hours until recently, and then a serious illness and death in the family), so we made a commitment to enjoy what might be our last year (and summer) in France and to explore the country. My dad’s three-week visit was the impetus for me to plan a few long weekends in wine country, and we embarked on our first trip – to the Champagne region – this past weekend.

Friday am: After suffering through a prolonged heatwave, we (well, at least I) looked forward to escaping into the air-conditioned splendour of our tiny rental car. We left Paris around 10 am and headed north and west in the direction of Port-a-Binson, a tiny village where an independent champagne producer whose wine we have enjoyed for the past winter is located. My husband drove, while I was in charge of navigation. Quite a challenge for someone who can’t drive, has limited depth perception, isn’t used to reading maps and whose capacity to multi-task fails her when faced with visually-oriented activities. We immediately got off on the wrong foot (er, wheel) and missed the entrance to the Péripherique Nord (which is difficult, because it’s only about 0.5 km from our house) and ended up instead on a highway heading northwest toward the town (Rouen) we visited a few weeks ago. We sorted ourselves out at Versailles, and got back on the road, this time heading in the right direction.

The last weekend in July is supposed to be one of the busiest weekends on French highways as all of the people who didn’t leave for their summer vacations on Bastille Day escape to the countryside for their August holidays. Traffic is supposed to be particularly bad on Friday night and Saturday. During the weekend, we saw very little evidence of this, but this was because we chose to drive on secondary roads for most of the trip. We had discovered on our last road trip (to Normandy, over the July 14 long weekend) that the secondary roads are more interesting and less crowded. Plus, there are no tolls. Of course, it takes more time and costs more in gas, but we thought the scenic route was worth it. (By the way you can map your itinerary as well as calculate the tolls, time and gas costs of direct and indirect routes with www.mappy.fr.)

After a couple of hours’ drive, we stopped for lunch in a tiny town and then continued on to Port-a-Binson, where we were: (a) greeted by a torrential downpour and (b) not greeted by the champagne producer we hoped to see. The house was locked up tight, and although we could see someone sitting in the office, she didn’t want to answer the door, even in the pouring rain. Disappointed, soggy and bubble-less, we climbed back into the car and started to head south toward Troyes, our destination for the night.

Kate_W

Along the way, though, we spotted a champagne house that looked a little more welcoming. We could see people working in the garage, so we pulled in to ask if they were open. They sent off a teenager up to the house, and a woman emerged in a bathing suit, wrapped in a towel. We apologised for disturbing her but she said it was no problem and was happy to show us around their tiny operation, with a modern (artificially refrigerated) cave. She told us a little about how champagne was produced, and then popped a bottle to share with us. We chatted a little; we are neither wine experts nor experts in the French language, so our conversation was limited. But we enjoyed the visit and the champagne enough to buy a few bottles.

On to Troyes, with a pitstop in a suburb for me to make a fast dash through the MacArthur Glen outlet mall. This is not the best outlet shopping in the world, but there are some good bargains and selection, particularly if you are interested in sports clothes (Reebok, Nike, Columbia, Oakley, Timberland) or upscale French children’s wear (I was lured into these shops by the incredibly cute clothes, and I don’t even have kids – or nieces or nephews). Then we got back on the road and drove to Troyes itself, where we found our hotel without too much difficulty (once the navigator remembered that, although the road atlas lacked a city map, there was such a map in her Lonely Planet France guidebook). We stayed at Le Hotel Royal, a 3* hotel located very close to the Maison du Tourisme and train station, and were quite pleased with our choice. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, the rooms had been recently redecorated and were pleasantly furnished, with small but nicely equipped bathrooms. And there was air conditioning. I can’t say it was a stylish hotel, or that the décor had charm or character, but it was a good value and very comfortable.

After a short nap, we headed back out to explore Troyes before it got dark. It is a medium-sized town, with a well-preserved old town containing a large number of Tudor-period half-timbered houses. Troyes is also famous for the stained glass windows in its churches. And the mechanically-minded travellers (e.g. my dad, the engineer, and my husband, Mr. Fix-it) will love the Maison de l’outil (Museum of Tools). It is located in a beautifully restored Tudor mansion and filled with fascinating displays of hand-made tools, photographs of the craftsmen who used them and information about what might be called the “philosophy and ideals of apprenticeship”. It was surprisingly uplifting to see the subject of trades and apprenticeship treated with such respect. The interior of the house itself is a wonderful example of hand-crafted, high quality interior finishes (e.g. stairways, floors, windows). There is also an interesting garden in the central courtyard featuring medieval medicinal plants.

There were quite a few options to choose from once we were ready for dinner. We ended up at Le Bistroquet, a moderately priced bistro with a lovely Art deco style interior. As usual in France, the non-smoking section was a dingy room, so we opted for a seat in the “moins fumeur” section. (We’ve almost given up asking for tables in the non-smoking section, so we ask to sit in the “less smoking” section – i.e. a smoking section with few people in it. Sometimes the host gets our little joke but this is France, after all, so usually they don’t laugh.) We shared a half bottle of champagne and everyone’s dinner was excellent. (I particularly enjoyed my dessert, which featured apple ice cream, apple sorbet, baked apples, whipped cream and meringue.) We waddled back to our hotel and collapsed for the night.

Kate_W

On Saturday morning, we got up relatively early, skipped breakfast at the hotel (about 9 euros for a skimpy continental breakfast buffet) and walked into the historic centre of the city to find a café. At that hour (about 9 am), very few cafés were open, but we found one that offered the essentials (strong coffee and a croque monsieur – toasted ham and cheese sandwich). Thus caffeinated, we set off to do a little more sightseeing. We left Troyes around noon, heading in the direction of Epernay. This time, we decided to take the most direct route for about the half the journey, before turning off onto one of the wine route roads (the D9). We puttered through charming town after charming town, passing vineyards along the way until we got to Epernay, where we stopped for lunch in the centre of town (at Le Commerce, I think), near the tourist information office.

Fortified with crepes, we were ready for our first grand tour of a large champagne house, Mercier. My wine guide book Robert Joseph, Eyewitness Companion to French Wine) said that Mercier offers a great tour; too bad its champagnes are mediocre. He was right. Mercier puts on quite a show, starting with a film about Mercier’s founder, continuing with an entertaining elevator ride to the caves and continuing with a train ride through the cave system, narrated by a fetching Brit who I’m sure was hired for his posh accent and wavy blond hair. Quite a change from having a woman in a towel show us around her refrigerator! Mercier’s founder and some of his progeny were renowned for innovations in marketing. Among other things, Mercer Père created one of the first promotional films (near the turn of the century), and arranged for dégustations of champagne in a balloon floating over Paris. His son (or grandson, I can’t remember which) once hosted a car rally in the caves, and not a single bottle of champagne was broken. Visitors are given a choice of tour only, tour with a tasting of one non-vintage champagne, or tour with a tasting of three champagnes (including two vintages). We splurged on the latter, although most visitors chose to taste only one champagne. It was interesting to compare the three champagnes we were offered, and to compare them with what he had tasted the previous day. We strongly preferred the champagne produced by the independent house. It had more fruit and more personality. We also learned more from the woman in the bathing suit. At Mercier, a server poured our champagnes but didn’t offer any information.

Kate_W

By the time our tour at Mercier was over, it was past 5 pm and the other large champagne houses were closed for the day, so we headed over to the tourism office, where we knew a few independent producers were offering free tastings of their champagnes. There were two women offering samples. One was less than enthusiastic (which was understandable; it was almost 6 pm on a hot day) – and was offering only tiny samples of a single, rather flat and tepid champagne. The other woman, though, was still as bubbly and inviting as her champagnes, despite the heat and a long day of greeting tourists. We enjoyed talking to her about her family’s business and found the champagnes on offer quite promising, even though tasting conditions were not ideal. So we decided that we would try to visit their house the next day, if we had time. I asked several questions to verify that, yes, they were open on Sunday and no, one did not need to make an appointment and yes, we could show up at any time, even at lunch time if we wanted to.

And so, buoyed up by a half-decent performance in French (I think the champagne helped) and the prospect of an interesting visit the next day, we headed out of Epernay toward Reims (pronounced a bit like “Rawnce”), where we planned to stay the night. We could have stayed in Epernay, but I hadn’t seen any decent hotel reviews on tripadvisor for moderately priced hotels in the town. To be honest, we weren’t terribly impressed with what we had seen of Epernay during our drive around town. Perhaps we missed the charming bits in our short visit, but it seemed to us to be chock-full of tourists and rather lacking in quaint old architecture.

We decided again to follow back roads to Reims, which was interesting but posed quite a challenge for my navigational skills. It is one thing for a depth perception-challenged novice navigator to trace a route while she’s fresh out of bed and fortified with coffee. It is quite another to do so in a state of distraction due to a couple of glasses of champagne and an increasingly full bladder. We had almost reached the point where I was going to have to ask the driver to pull over by the side of the road when we spotted a rather fancy restaurant in the forest, a Relais Something-or-other. Sheepishly, I asked the boys I could see prepping dinner through the kitchen door (which was open to the driveway) if I could use the toilet. No problem, madame, … and we were once again on our way, in the hands of a relatively clear-headed navigator.

SuzieC

Oh you lucky people! Sigh.
As I grow older, good luck has to come along with bad...balance I guess.
But to have the chance to live for a year in Paris? WOW...
I bet my beau would enjoy that tool museum ... I'd enjoy the champagne.

Kate_W

As I was booking close to the last minute and was worried about the heat wave, I decided to make a reservation at a chain hotel in Reims, the Best Western de la Paix. Again, we were pleased with our hotel choice. Best Westerns in Europe can be as charming and idiosyncratic as other small hotels, with the added advantage of the BW search engine, easy internet reservation/cancellation system and frequent flyer points for stays. This hotel was probably 1/2 star higher in quality than our Troyes hotel, with quite a modern stylish interior, air-conditioned rooms, a large bathroom, a funky lobby bar, a nice courtyard patio and a pool and gym (which we didn't use). It's very centrally located near the main pedestrian street and it was easy to find parking on the street. The service wasn't as personalised and solicitous, but it was a much larger hotel so we didn't expect the same thing.

After a short nap, we headed out to forage for dinner. Although there seemed to be a lot of cafés in Reims, we found it harder to choose among them because they mostly seemed to be very touristy, with jam-packed patios and identical menus. Lonely Planet France had recommended the Continental for its "panoramic views". Well, the book probably predates the installation of an ugly glass entrance to an underground parking garage smack-dab in front of the restaurant. No more view. The interior of the restaurant was a floor higher, but one side of it still looked over the parking elevator (although the other side faced the park). After traipsing up and down the pedestrian street a few times, we spotted L'Apostrophe, which had also been recommended in my guide book for its eclectic (by French standards) menu, sleek decor and boho-intello attitude. We skipped the terrace in favour of seats just inside at the front of the open windows, so we benefited from the view outside while lounging on more attractive (and comfortable) furniture. I imagine that this would be quite a pleasant hangout (restaurant or spacious bar upstairs) on a fall or winter's evening, with its warm, bright colours, velvety chairs and modern decor. Our meal wasn't as good as the one the night before, but it was nice to have a few Asian-fusion style options on the menu. The young wait staff were practically run off their feet, so service was a bit slow and less professional than average but staff were pleasant enough. Our waitress managed to diplomatically suggest that our wine choice was not ideal and suggested something else that turned out to be a) cheaper and b) very good.

In the morning, we ate breakfast early in a café along the same strip before driving a few kilometres to the Piper-Hiedseick champagne house for another tour. Piper-Hiedseick got good ratings in our wine guide both for its tour and the quality of its champagne. The tour was a rather glitzy affair, involving mini-trains that glide through the caves, spinning around from time to time to confront various displays in the tour. It did not feel much like we were in a working champagne cave at all, more like we were in a purpose-built environment for an amusement park ride. But it was fun nevertheless. Piper-Hiedseick plays up the glamour side of things, with lots of displays relating to Cannes, movies in which their champagne was consumed (Casablanca, apparently), etc. At the end of the tour, you can enjoy a tasting in an atmosphere reminiscent of a nightclub. Again, we splurged on a 3-champagne tasting (accompanied by an assortment of biscuits) and quite enjoyed the experience. Well, who wouldn't enjoy champagne at 10 in the morning? It felt quite decadent.

On our way out, we decided that this champagne was worth the splurge, so we bought two, rather expensive bottles of vintage champagne, which we'll save for special occasions, and a demi-bouteille of their non-vintage reserve.

opaldog

Keep going, I'm enjoying your report. I love champagne. I just bought a car in the color "champagne".

Kate_W

The next steps in our tour involved a drop of history and culture. We went first to La Musée de la Reddition (Surrender Museum), which was established in the building where Eisenhower set up his War Room in the last months of World War II in Europe and where the Germans signed the first surrender document ending the war in Europe on 7 May 1945. (A second surrender document was signed in the presence of the Russians on 8 May in Berlin.) It is possible to stand inside the War Room itself, where the surrender document was signed, and observe the maps and charts relating to the battle. Then it was time for a visit to the Cathedral which, as French cathedrals go, was sufficiently grand but not, in my opinion, as stunning as the Cathedral in Rouen. The Cathedral in Reims, however, has some interesting stained glass windows, including some well-done mid-20th century ones depicting scenes associated with the production of champagne. The windows created by Chagall, however, were the highlight for me of the visit to this Cathedral.

By the way, the order of events for the morning might seem a little odd (champagne for breakfast, then church?), but worked well. We were the first visitors at Piper-Hiedseick, at 9:30, got to the Museum in good time to complete our visit before it closed at 11:45 and then were able to visit the Cathedral around mid-day, shortly after it opened up for public visits following Sunday morning mass.

Back on the road and in the navigator’s seat (I had finally learned to stop my husband from just driving off without having given me the chance to discuss a route with him), we drove out of Reims to the west, again on secondary roads, and started to work our way back to Epernay and then south to Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger. More or less at random, we stopped in at a champagne producer’s house where we could see people sitting outside on the terrace. They weren’t particularly enthusiastic about showing us around, but they did give us a short tour and let us taste a few different champagnes. Much better than Mercier, but not as good as the champagne we have at home, the champagne we’d bought the day before or the champagne we’d tasted at the tourism office. However, we had previously decided that, unless we really didn’t like something, we would buy something from any of the independent producers who offered a tour and opportunity to taste their champagne, so we bought 2 bottles and 2 half-bottles (about 13.50 and 7.50 euros, respectively).

Kate_W

Our next objective was lunch (well, my next objective was to find a toilet but since I was likely to find one where lunch was I went along with the plan). We arrived in Hautvilliers, which is where Dom Perignon figured out that thicker glass meant fewer broken champagne bottles. The abbey was closed, but the restaurant beside the abbey was open. Alas, it was “complet” (fully booked) and madame did not want to let us sit outside since the sky was threatening rain. It looked pricey anyway and we had already eaten our way through our tour of Champagne and didn’t need any more rich food, so we weren’t terribly disappointed to be turned away. A little further down the hill, we found a café, across from the tourism office, with a lovely terrace offering a pretty view over the village and the vineyards. The menu was very simple (mostly cold plates of cheese, meats, etc), but it was exactly what we wanted. I committed the grave fault of feeding the ancient beagle who had been hanging around the tables, and he attached himself to our table for the rest of the meal. I’m a sucker for a cute dog, and I don’t like meatloaf anyway.

Sated, we got back in the car and headed off to the final destination in our champagne tour, the village of Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger and the “chateau” Bardy-Chauffert (www.champagne-bardy-chauffert.com). Driving into the tiny village, we spotted a number of people in day-glo vests, emergency services personnel, as well as metal barricades. Had we landed in the middle of a manifestation? Were champagne producers going on strike? No, a bicycle race was passing through town, and we had to stop once or twice to let them go past. Conveniently, though, the people manning the barricades were able to direct us to Bardy-Chauffert. We located the house, were given directions to the back door by a group of twenty-somethings enjoying a barbeque and picnic on the street, rang the door bell and crossed our fingers. Nothing. Waited a little longer and rang again. Finally, we heard movement from inside, the door opened and the nice woman from the Epernay Tourist Office greeted us with a smile of recognition. We were ushered inside out of the rain, and she called to her husband, who was happy to take us on the grand tour. We had a great time. He took us down to his cave (which like those of Mercier but unlike those of the lady in the bathing suit) were carved by hand out of hillside. His cave certainly wasn’t as extensive as those of the big chateaux, but I wouldn’t want to be down there by myself without a rope or some bread crumbs. He patiently showed us all aspects of the champagne production, bottling and finishing process, speaking slowly enough that my dad could understand. Then we headed back upstairs for a tasting, where we were joined by half a dozen visitors from Belgium who told us that they visit Bardy-Chauffert every year because they love their champagne and the warm welcome they get from the proprietors. We also enjoyed what we tasted, so we bought six bottles of their 1998 vintage and six demi-bouteilles of their traditional champagne. We also put our names down in their guest list, with the promise that they would send us an invitation to the Salon des Vins that they attend in Chartres in late October.

A pit stop for the navigator, and we were back on the road heading back to Paris. Again, we decided to stay on the secondary roads for half of the trip and then switched to the A4, mainly because my only set of navigation instructions (which I had printed off from mappy.fr before the trip) required us to take the A4 to get to our penultimate destination of the day – La Vallée Village, a premium outlet mall complex outside Paris near Disneyland. This was one of my rewards for being such a good navigator. My dad says that I am to shopping malls what a highly prized Italian pig is to truffles. I have unerring instincts. Well, almost unerring. We took the wrong turn-off (there are no clear signs labelled “La Vallée Village” on the A4, as one would have expected) and almost ended up spending the evening with Mickey. Back on track, we found the shopping centre. I dumped the boys and sprinted off in the direction of Gérard Darel, Furla, Agnés B. et al for 45 minutes of power-browsing. The mall is definitely worth the trip if you are a premium brand shopaholic and fit into a relatively small size (US size 8 or smaller). There may be a wider range of sizes at other times in the season, but pickings were slim at the end of July. Unlike US premium outlet malls, these shops do not carry clothing lines produced especially for such outlets; they carry the previous year’s clothes (summer 2005 was picked over, fall 2005 was arriving) at about a 33%-50% discount. Expensive but good quality and a good range of labels (mostly French mid-range or higher labels, plus some Italian labels and a few American shops).

Kate_W

Final entry - tips for others planning a trip to Champagne:

1) Go to Troyes. If you have a rental car, I think Troyes is a more appealing base from which you can explore the region than overpriced Epernay, or Reims. You will end up spending more money on gas, but it is possible to cover the whole area. You can also explore the champagne region of Aube, southeast of Troyes.

2) As an alternative to Troyes, if you are able to plan ahead, consider staying at a chateau, chambre d'hote or other smaller hotel in a village. I had to make plans at the last minute, and couldn't afford the time to contact a number of hotels in search of available rooms. But on our next trip, we'll probably spend a night in Troyes and a night or two in a chateau or chambre d'hote. Hachette publishes (in French) a book called Charmbres d'hotes au Chateau dans les vignes. Even though it's in French, there are enough photos and other details that you could use this book even if you can't understand French.

3) By all means, enjoy the "shows" put on at the large champagne houses, like Mercier, Moet & Chandon, Piper-Hiedseick, etc, but save some time to explore the champagnes produced by smaller, independent houses. The smaller houses' champagnes generally are a much better value, too. The most expensive bottle we bought from an independent producer was 20 euros (for vintage champagne), whereas 18-20 was the bottom of the price range in the large houses (the "one or two rungs above basic" champagne we bought at Piper-Hiedseick was priced in the mid-30s to mid-40s).

4) Don't hesitate to book a champagne-tasting tour of the small villages, unless: (a) you speak and understand spoken French fairly well and (b) you have the time, capacity and willingness to arrange appointments with independent champagne producers yourself before your visit. My husband is allergic to organised tours, so we opted for the do-it-yourself itinerary. While we had some wonderful surprises along the way, we also experienced some frustration and we might have missed out on some good producers.

5) If you do decide to tour on your own, make sure that you book a few appointments (perhaps two per day for each day of your trip). The Eyewitness Guide to Wine can be used to identify some good value and good quality producers, but you need to do additional research. The Guide, for example, doesn't usually give address or contact details for producers, so you need to look them up on the internet. You could use a book like this in conjunction with the internet-based resources produced by the tourism offices in the Champagne region to find contact details.

marcy_

Kate,
I enjoyed your report, and I've filed away lots of information for a future trip to that area-- Thanks!

The Champagne region sounds like an ideal long-weekend getaway, and the outlet shopping sounds tempting, too.

And add me to the list of people who are jealous of your opportunity to live in Paris-- although maybe not in the heat wave this summer.

LoriNY1

I agree with you about Piper's tour being glitzy, 'Disneyish' was what came to mind when we were there. I much preferred Pommery, were you went into the actual caves.