World wine tour:France Ⅱ
Champagne…
From Bordeaux we traveled North-East to another region associated with prestige, Champagne. We had the great support of Wink Lorch from Wine Travel Guides during this time, our companion and organizer of most of the visits. We also owe a special debt of gratitude to Philipe Wibrotte from the CIVC, the organization representing and overseeing all Champagne houses, as he helped us with visits and the bottle logistics (see photo above of Wink, Philipe, and us).
Popular culture says that the Benedictine Monk, Dom Perignon (see his statue below), invented the Champagne we know of today. Research on the subject though says that the first reported sparkling wine originated by other Benedictine Monks in the Abbey of Saint Hilaire in 1531, over a century before Dom Perignon. It is also claimed that an English scientist and physician, Christopher Merret, documented adding sugar to a finished wine to create a second fermentation, or sparkling wine, 40 years before Dom Perignon had. Nonetheless, Dom Perignon made many advances towards creating the modern day Champagne which we know of, including adding the wire to the cork to avoid random bottle firings!
Subsequently, in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries royalty from throughout Europe would ask for the unique wine for ceremonies and special events, which would add to the association of Champagne with prestige, luxury, and power. Since then and into the 19th and 20th centuries, Champagne production and demand would increase significantly, and today the same ideas of festivities are associated with the drink!
Krug: Mylene Soulas took us through one of the most prestigious Champagne houses in existence, and we are pictured above with Mr. Olivier Krug! Founded in 1843 by a man named Joseph Krug from Germany, their famous Grand Cuvee label, accounting for 85% of the production, is left to age 6 years before being released. This extra care and the use of the best vineyards (which Olivier is showing to us above) has made Krug a legend in premium Champagne since Joseph’s founding of the Champagne-house!
Taittinger: A world class Champagne house, where with no exceptions all riddling occurs by hand, ensuring quality will uphold its name. Bottles are stored to age in cellars such as the one pictured above, which during World War I served as a hospital for the injured!
Vilmart: We are pictured above with M. Laruent Champ, the 5th generation of the family business! Putting much manual energy into ensuring quality, 100% of riddling is done by hand (riddling is the process, which when done by hand takes months, of slowly accumulating the yeast sediments in a Champagne bottle to the top, for freezing and removal, the ‘traditional method’). An extra special feature though of Vilmart is that 45-50 year old vines form 50% of the total volume produced!
J. Dumangin Fils: Also in the 5th generation of the family, we met with Gilles Dumangin, pictured above. Only the 1st and 2nd volumes coming from the pressing of the grapes is used, an extra precaution taken to uphold the highest standards. Gilles is very involved in new social media, so follow his site too!
Bollinger: We had a tour of the Champagne house with Sonia, pictured above. The champagne house has 5km of cellars underground to facilitate their champagne aging! Bollinger uses barrels for their Champagne production, something not as common in the region and which gives the wine a more unique twist. The barrels used are always old (about 5 years old, from Burgundy), to ensure no oak taste comes into to the wine.
Chassenay d’Arce: The castle of Chassenay has been an Icon in the Arce valley since the 11th century, and it’s in this very monument that the Chassenay d’Arce Champagne house began, in 1956! A past globe-trotter who completed a world wine charity tour in 2004 now works as export manager, ErwanThill, and though we were unfortunately unable to visitdue to time constraints, has donated a beautiful 3L bottle. Luckily though for people interested in more about this Champagne house, Erwan will be present at VINEXPO in Bordeaux this coming June! He will be looking forward to giving you a nice crisp tasting of Chassenay d’Arce, so be sure to visit and learn more about this wonderful Champagne house and their export potential!
Moet and Chandon: Another past wine-collecting-charity-organizer from 2004 now works here, Stanislas. Moet and Chandon has been associated with prestige since its start, with Napoleon and the Russian Tsars being fans alongside Stanislas, and things have continued since then. The name came to be when the daughter of a Moet married a Chandon, which solidified the family partnership. 28km of tunnels in 3 levels going 30 meters deep ensures enough room for their production!