Wes had found a deal for our hotel that included dinner and a tour to a champagne house, so we got up the next morning and walked over to go to the tour.
Everyone knows that only wine made from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France can be called "champagne", but we learned that the even towns that grow grapes get ranked based on their potential ability to grow grapes. While the Échelle des Crus rating system was originally a 100 point scale, in practice, the lowest rated villages are rated at 80%. Premier crus villages are rated between 90 and 99 percent while the highest rated villages, with 100% ratings are Grand crus. The map below shows where the vineyards are in the champagne region. All of the grand cru vineyards are located in the Marne department.
I took this as we were moving through the cellars, it's a picture of where the grapes used to be stored. They were stored by cru, so that the makers could blend appropriately.
The cellars had some "art" pieces in them.
The champagne is aged in the cellars in huge hallways.
An example of how the barrels for aging the wine used to be made.
Looks like a giant barrel, but really just art.
More art.
Our guide.
And a finished bottle. Of course there was a tasting after the tour, but we decided not to buy anything.
Instead we drove out to Ludes, one of the villages that produces wine
and visited a house that was located there. We drove out of town on the
"Champagne Route", which is a road that winds through many of the
grape-producing villages in the region. The house, Canard-Duchene, was founded in 1868 by Victor Canard and Léonie Duchêne. The two-headed eagle is the coat of arms of the Russian Imperial family.
Of course we didn't realize until we arrived that they were actually harvesting! It was August, so it was quite early in the year for this. All the harvesting is done by hand, as you can see.
Our guide for this tour!
The sword was added to the eagle as a sword is sometimes used to open the bottles. We didn't see this, but I'm sure it's cool.
The cellars used to lead to a castle, but the castle isn't around any more. Here was the original steps up from the cellar.
A view from the house:
After this we headed back to the city. But on the way out of the house, we immediately got pulled over by the police. Probably because of the Dutch plates on the car. But they asked Wes if he spoke french, he said "a little bit", then asked him if had had anything drinking, he said "a little bit". And then out came the breathalyzer. I really wish that I had taken out my camera at that point, but being that it was police I didn't...of course Wes blew a 0.00 and we were then quickly on our way.
We went back to the city and back to the cathedral, now that I had my other camera lens. =)
After dinner, which a set menu at a local restaurant, we headed back to the hotel and then back to Amsterdam the next morning! A great first trip!
Everyone knows that only wine made from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France can be called "champagne", but we learned that the even towns that grow grapes get ranked based on their potential ability to grow grapes. While the Échelle des Crus rating system was originally a 100 point scale, in practice, the lowest rated villages are rated at 80%. Premier crus villages are rated between 90 and 99 percent while the highest rated villages, with 100% ratings are Grand crus. The map below shows where the vineyards are in the champagne region. All of the grand cru vineyards are located in the Marne department.
I took this as we were moving through the cellars, it's a picture of where the grapes used to be stored. They were stored by cru, so that the makers could blend appropriately.
The cellars had some "art" pieces in them.
The champagne is aged in the cellars in huge hallways.
An example of how the barrels for aging the wine used to be made.
Looks like a giant barrel, but really just art.
More art.
Instead we drove out to Ludes, one of the villages that produces wine
and visited a house that was located there. We drove out of town on the
"Champagne Route", which is a road that winds through many of the
grape-producing villages in the region. The house, Canard-Duchene, was founded in 1868 by Victor Canard and Léonie Duchêne. The two-headed eagle is the coat of arms of the Russian Imperial family.Of course we didn't realize until we arrived that they were actually harvesting! It was August, so it was quite early in the year for this. All the harvesting is done by hand, as you can see.
Our guide for this tour!
The sword was added to the eagle as a sword is sometimes used to open the bottles. We didn't see this, but I'm sure it's cool.
The cellars used to lead to a castle, but the castle isn't around any more. Here was the original steps up from the cellar.
After this we headed back to the city. But on the way out of the house, we immediately got pulled over by the police. Probably because of the Dutch plates on the car. But they asked Wes if he spoke french, he said "a little bit", then asked him if had had anything drinking, he said "a little bit". And then out came the breathalyzer. I really wish that I had taken out my camera at that point, but being that it was police I didn't...of course Wes blew a 0.00 and we were then quickly on our way.
We went back to the city and back to the cathedral, now that I had my other camera lens. =)
