My long weekend in Champagne (Reims, Épernay)

This is not going to be a (too) long, meandering appraisal my first time in the region, nor its wines glass-by-glass, but will hopefully provide a flavour of the place.

We stayed in Reims (the sleepy, non-cultural part, but cheap, fairly central, and a 25-min walk to the cultural hub). With the benefit of hindsight, we would have stayed in Épernay, for its more intimate and aesthetic qualities. Next time I will also be renting a car if not bringing my own for the grower visits, although the Über rides we did use weren't extortionate.

The three of us – my girlfriend and her cousin – were there for four days. The most incredible and memorable parts of the trip were:

– The northern Côtes des Blancs vineyard tour we did in that old, blue Citroën. We visited Jean Milan, a modestly sized grower in Oger – a Grand Cru village next to the famous Mensil-Sur-Oger. On the AirBnB tour we booked, we got some of the shots shown in this post, as well as a try of three different cuvées (three per person, so three of you could try nine different wines in theory). This experience truly opened my eyes to what Champagne could be. There was a 'Noël' cuvée that LITERALLY smelt of a mince pie. I've been lucky enough to try some great expressions of Champagne within the boundaries of the English market, but the ability to drink so many beautiful things side-by-side blew my mind as to the discrepancies that quality winemakers could achieve not only between themselves, but within a single vigneron, cultivated from their restricted parcels.

– Ruinart cellar tour: this was the most touristy thing we did, but it was a thing of mesmerising beauty. The tour of their UNESCO World Heritage-protected cellars, made of 100% chalk, was breathtaking. You can brush your fingers against the humid, fragile chalk walls, and the smell is incredible; no better understanding of the concept of 'terroir' can be provided than in that single inhale.

– Les Caves du Forum, Reims: an incredible wine merchant underground, as the whole shop floor is stationed in the cellars in which the wine is stored. You could find any producer under the sun there (don't quote me), and I could have spent a day in those tunnels; annoyingly it was sh*tting bricks outside and I had to run off for the Ruinart tour, so was only there for 15 mins, my biggest regret. They also served some wine BTG on-site: Krug editions were available at €48 per glass. I'd have been tempted if I had longer!

I probably sampled around 30 cuvées in those four days – it was a pure education. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me. I'm sure to be back in not too long. Credit to my other half's cousin for the some of the shots shown here.