Today we split up CJ, Anne, Shirley, Tamie, and Brandon went to Epernay
to enjoy a Day of Champagne tasting ” and Darryl, Kensie and I stayed in Paris
and dedicated this day to Kensie.
***
Kensie’s Day ***
We asked Kensie what she wanted to do and she said “Shopping!” So off we
went. We first walked down to the local shopping mall and went into a few
stores here and there but found them to be very expensive. So we stopped by the
Post office to get some stamps and then to the Orange cellular store to see if
I could get a French SIM for my new phones but unfortunately when the person at
the store plugged in the SIM and the phone came up in a strange language that
nether the Orange agent or I could figure out what to do. Well so much for
cheap phones calls. So we ventured out of the mall and down the streets of
Paris. We shopped and shopped all day passing by interesting stores along the
way. Kensie even tried her hand at bargaining. She purchased a hoodie and some
coasters that was selling for a total of 30 euros and bargained it down to 25
euros. A saving of 5 euros! That’s about a $7.00 in savings. Not bad for her
first time! It’s lunch time so we headed to a nice little restaurant up the
street form the mall where we had some real good Spaghetti Bolognese and of
course Kensie had a cheeseburger. We
passed by the modern art museum and a strange looking modern art fountain on our
walks including a bunch of pet stores along the seine river where Kensie wanted
all of the doggies in the windows. Jokingly we told her if you can pack the dog
in your suitcase then you can take them home. She didn’t seem to like that
idea. J It was
getting around 5:00 pm so we headed back to the apartment. When we got back CJ
texted me and told me that Anne friend had suggested a restaurant that was
somewhat near by called “Aux Bon Crus”
we decided we had some extra time so we walked down to the restaurant to check
it out. We met the owners who were real nice and told me about the restaurant
and we told him we would be back around 8:00. We walked back to the apartment
to wait for everyone else to get back from Epernay. Once the group was together
we all walked down the street to “Aux Bon Crus” for dinner. This was a small
Restaurant but the food was fantastic! One of the owners sat us down and
explained the whole menu down to the smallest detail. He was real nice. I had a
started of Rabbit and my main was Duck Confit. It was the best Duck Confit that
I ever had. Wow it was great! We ended the night with everyone going to their
apartments and CJ, Anne, Shirley and I finishing the night with a real good
bottle of champagne.
***
Epernay ***
Brandon and Tamie met Anne, Shirley and I at the Gare de L’est. Shirley made some phone calls and our tour
was updated to include Brandon. Getting
off the train we headed to the visitor center and found which Champagne Houses was
doing tastings. The streets were clean
and wide. Moet and Chandon seem to own
much of the town. We have a tour
scheduled with them later so we went on to Collard-Picard. We agreed to share our tastings – as it turns
out a good plan! A tasting was a
complete glass of champagne. So it was a
delightful start to the day. We shared
six glasses of champagne among the 5 of us.
Yum… really yum!
We then went to Moet and Chandon for their tour. Very stately and very established. They provided some history of the family and
the dignitaries and royalty that have come through their estate. After a brief video – we began our tour of
the cellars. It literally goes for miles
and miles. When asked the number of
bottles – they would not say – but did allude that it would provide a bottle a
day for every person on the planet for a year – or some such claim. From what we saw – I believe it (or it may
have been more than that – and there would still be bottles left in the cellar)
We learned about Dom Perignon and how he discovered and refined the
process of Champagne – thank you Dom!!
The tasting was very much an eye opener.
The imperial Champagnes were very approachable and ready to enjoy now
and over the next few years. The
Vintages were much bolder and we all agreed would be very good with food
pairings. On their own however, they
were not our favorites.
The highlight of the trip was up after a quick lunch at a local
brasserie. So, while waiting for the
tour guide – Nathalie -- Shirley decided to wander around a garden. Anne, Tamie, Brandon and I wanted to head
back to Collard-Picard for some wonderful champagne glasses. As it turned out they were late opening after
lunch so we ended up with an extra tasting.
Nathalie showed up and the real adventure began. What a wonderful hostess
– she took us to the vineyards and explained their process of working in the
fields – 9 months of the year. They
harvest for two weeks and bottle for 3 days.
At Domi-Moreau they have 6 hectares of grapes in 35 locations. They sell
the juice of the grapes from half their harvest and bottle the rest under their
own label. The two weeks of harvesting
and bottling will produce 30,000 bottles.
Only available locally.
Nathalie delighted us with stories and humor and really walked us through
the process. It was a wonderful
experience!
Tamie and I were quite taken with the tasting glasses at Collard-Picard
and decided we wanted to go back for them. The shop closed at 6. Time was of the essence. We raced into the shop to see that they were
very happy to see us and in no rush to close.
Nathalie had told us that the shape of the glass was the newest style
that was meant to enhance the experience of smell and taste of the
Champaign. So we were now on the cutting
edge for stemware!
Happy with our new purchases – we headed for the train… of course… I
still have to figure out how I will get 6 new stemware glasses home… but will
see how that adventure unfolds later…
Note: I’m
sorry it’s taking me so long to get the blog entries out. We have had a lot of
very full days going to bed at Midnight or 1am. I haven’t had much time for
blogging but I’m having a lot of fun. Stay tuned for some pictures.
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