We are now reaching unexplored territory for the whole
family in the North West of France. We
have entered the world of Champagne, so now the tasting begins.
Coming from New Zealand, we thought that champagne was champagne! But the French certainly got us sorted out as we entered some of the hundreds of champagne cellars in the region. The make-up of champagne includes a combination of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes that must be from the region of Champagne. We passed the well know Moet & Chardon, Tattinger and Mercier (where we went on an underground train to discover their underground 18km of cellar tunnels). We had a very knowledgeable tasting at Champagne Jean Seleque and came away with a bottle (40% chardonnay, 40% pinot noir and 20% pinot meunier). We also were given a lovely bottle from our French gite owner as compensation because his 18 year old daughter was having a party that night in our shared backyard, it was great to hear all our old 90s favourite songs getting bellowed out and was certainly no hardship to us!
Coming from New Zealand, we thought that champagne was champagne! But the French certainly got us sorted out as we entered some of the hundreds of champagne cellars in the region. The make-up of champagne includes a combination of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes that must be from the region of Champagne. We passed the well know Moet & Chardon, Tattinger and Mercier (where we went on an underground train to discover their underground 18km of cellar tunnels). We had a very knowledgeable tasting at Champagne Jean Seleque and came away with a bottle (40% chardonnay, 40% pinot noir and 20% pinot meunier). We also were given a lovely bottle from our French gite owner as compensation because his 18 year old daughter was having a party that night in our shared backyard, it was great to hear all our old 90s favourite songs getting bellowed out and was certainly no hardship to us!
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| Mercier fonder - holds 200,000 bottles of champagne. Built for the 1900 Expo in Paris |
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| Mercier underground cellars - 18km of them |
We enjoyed exploring the countryside along the route de champagne and were surprised at the amount of small villages every couple of kilometres.
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