Tasting the bubbly

Champagne – sparkling wine, northeastern region of France, popping corks and wild celebrations, “Sovetskoje” (for Eastern-European people at least), F1 winners, glamor – this is what I think of when hearing this word. I don’t know much about those bubbly wines (or for regular wines for that matter), but I do like to have a glass or two from time to time. Recently I was also in a wine-tasting event at ComoComo, a chic and entertaining restaurant in Brussels of which I wrote some weeks ago, and that was an event to remember. Will write about it sometime in the future, because today I want to concentrate on Champagne, the region of France and the drink.

Last Friday me and J thought we should do something interesting over the weekend and decided go to Champagne. We started to arrange things and found a car, a place to stay, some landmarks for sightseeing and some good restaurants where to have dinner.  On Saturday we were already on our way to France,  heading to Reims (or Rhhhhhans, the way you are suppose to pronounce it), the center of the Champagne’s wine growing district.

 

It is a lovely city. A very important one in French history as well - all the kings of France from Louis the Pious in 815 to Charles X in 1825 were crowned here at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims. It is also said that the French nation was born here in A.D. 498.  Pretty impressive, huh? I would have gone to Reims only because of the cathedral itself – imagine yourself walking inside what I call a super-sized church where the crowning of kings used to took place…and it is free of charge!

There are several champagne houses in Reims or in its outskirts and you might have a lot of trouble deciding where to go. I guess they are all offering the same kind of service – a bit of history of the house, a tour in the cellars where you’ll hear about the champagne-making process and the best part – wine tasting – in the end.

The websites of the different wineries are pretty impressive – have a look at G. H. Mumm, Veuve Clicquot, Piper-Heidsieck, Laurent Perrier…Mumm got the best reviews from Tripadvisor and thus was our first choice. Not only was it rated as the best winery experience, it was also within the walking-distance from the center of Reims where we stayed (about 20 min walk). All the others were a bit far and  you needed a car…but who is to drive when they offer wine tasting at the end of the tour?

To be on the safe side, call in advance and book a visit, otherwise you might be turned down at the door, especially in summer. I had the pleasure of calling them, after I had practiced my French with J on the car on our way to Reims. I did succeed in booking us a visit, in French! Although I stayed within the basic lines, like “Est-il possible de réserver une visite pour deux personnes, d’aujourd’hui pour cinq heures?”, I felt like I had achieved something great. Talking in French in France, all by myself. Man was I proud of myself!

This feeling was of course diminished later that day when we reached the G. H. Mumm winery. The lady from the reception switched directly to English when I tried to say something like “Nous avons une réservation pour une visite“…It’s the French “rrrrr” that I am not comfortable with. But anyways – our first trip, when we reached Reims, was to Mumm, where we walked through the center of the town, passing the amazing cathedral and some other sights.

Mumm was really a nice experience – I highly recommend it. The building itself was so pretty and the first door we saw had a sign “Public Relations” on it. Had I had my CV at hand, I would have handed it in for consideration.

But about the tour now. When you buy a ticket fort he tour, you must choose how many Campaigns you’d like to taste - depending on that you either pay €8 or up to €19.50. The tour started with a short film about the history of Mumm champagne, followed by a guided tour in the caves (7 and 14 m underground) where some 25 million bottles are stored!

There are kilometers of tunnels underground which form a network of “streets”, each named after surrounding Champagne region’s villages. The longest “street”, seen in the picture below, is 400 m long and  called Champs-Élysées. You can see meters of slowly fermenting champagne, all waiting to be in someone’s hand or table in about a few years.

The guide told us plenty about the technology of production of champagne, starting from where the grapes are grown and ending with how Champagne ends up being sec or demi-sec.  Did you know that it takes about 5 years to finish one bottle of champagne? It all starts with harvesting (mostly by hand), then the  primary fermentation and bottling takes place, after which a second alcoholic fermentation occurs in the bottle. This second fermentation is induced by adding several grams of yeast (each brand has its own secret recipe) and several grams of sugar. According to the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée a minimum of 1.5 years is required to completely develop all the flavor. During this time the champagne bottle is sealed with a crown cap similar to that used on beer bottles. Wines from Champagne cannot legally be sold until it has aged on the lees (the sediment) in the bottle for at least 15 months in the case of non-vintage Champagne.

After aging (a minimum from one and a half to three years), the sediment must be consolidated for removal. The bottles undergo a process known as riddling (see the picture). In this stage the bottles are placed on special racks called pupitres. This places the bottles at a 45º with the cork pointed down. Every few days the bottles are given a slight shake and turn and dropped back into the pupitres (eventually the angle is increased). The drop back into the rack causes a slight tap, pushing sediments toward the neck of the bottle. In about 6 to 8 weeks the position of the bottle is pointed straight down with sediment in the neck of the bottle. Professional riddlers can shape up to 40 000 bottles a day! Manual riddling is not very common anymore – most of this process is done with machines now.

Now, if the sediment is finally in the neck of the bottle, it must be removed. Usuallythe method is the following – the bottles are chilled, the neck is frozen, and the cap is then removed. The pressure in the bottle forces out the ice containing the lees, some syrup is added to maintain the level within the bottle and the bottle is then quickly corked to maintain the carbon dioxide level in the bottle. Then the bottles are washed and labeled.

 

Through the whole champagne-making process the champagne stays in the same bottle – so for example, the fancy Mumm bottle you get in a restaurant or from a shop, has actually been in the cellars for several years, all dusty and dirty, before it goes through the washing up and labeling.

Mumm champagne  is usually made in bottles as big as 750 ml, but there are also smaller and bigger bottles, each of which have a name – have a look at the picture below.

The tour ends with wine-tasting. We chose to taste two different champagnes, just enough, had we had three, we would be too drunk to find our way back to the hotel…Mumm bubbles rocked!

So much of the tour and Mumm champagne. A bit more about Reims now.

If you are looking for a quality wine, champagne or other alcoholic beverage, you might want to stop by at La Grande Boutique du Vin, which is even open on Saturday. You might want to go there with car to buy some boxes of good liquids…

As for dinner – we picked this restaurant because it had good reviews and it was also suggested by the hotel. However, I should have done some more research on it…Le Millénaire was nice, very nice, even very very extra super nice, but my god was it pricey! Only like 100% over our budget…but the food was so tasty and service excellent, so in the end it was all worth it. But if you are traveling with small budget, I recommend you to find something else.

By the way, popping cork when opening a champagne bottle actually shows one does not respect the bubbles. You see, in order to get the best champagne experience, you should open a bottle quietly, thus keeping more bubbles in the wine, making the glorious sparkling fizz last longer and making the drinking of it a lot more pleasurable. It’s also a lot safer, with no flying corks involved, but of course less exciting than the alternative method.

I tried to find some guidelines on which champagne to pair with which food. Of course, wine and food pairings is an individual choice just because every person’s sense of taste is different. In general, each person should decide for him or herself what combinations of wine and food taste good – don’t worry about what anyone else says should work.

However, I found some guidelines on this – see the table below. Typically, you want to drink light-to-dark, just as when you plan a meal you start with delicate tastes and work towards heavier tastes. For this reason, Champagne tends to go very well with appetizers or opening courses in a meal. It also goes well with sushi and very light meals, and of course as an after-dinner celebration!

All in all, trust your own judgment, and eat and drink what you enjoy.

	Extra Dry	Brut	Blanc de Blanc	Blanc de Noir
Mild Cheese				-
Strong Cheese
Appetizers
Shrimp, crab, lobster	-
Shellfish	-
Seafood w/lite sauce	-
Seafood w/cream sauce	-	-	-	-
Grilled fish	-	-	-	-
Pasta w/cream sauce	-	-	-	-
Pasta w/red sauce	-	-	-	-
Asian food				-
Poultry
Pork	-	-	-	-
Beef	-	-	-	-
Fruit/Dessert
Chocolate	-	-	-	-