Champagne Tasting in Reims, France

As a special birthday celebration my husband treated me to a trip to Reims in France to go CHAMPAGNE tasting! We travelled by Eurostar in Leisure Select from London to Paris then had to change stations to catch our train onto Reims.

We stayed in a lovely hotel right in the centre of Reims and had a nice room overlooking the courtyard. Reims is a lovely city and has plenty to offer, many bars, restaurants and excellent for shopping. It also has a lovely cathedral with an array of stained glass windows.

However the main reason for the trip was to visit the Champagne houses to sample the different varieties of Champagne, I learnt so much about this wonderful drink whilst also seeing how it’s made and where its stored……Brut, Sec or Demi-Sec anyone?

We chose to visit Pommery, Tatinger, Mumm and a local French one called Martel, four was enough as they are all similar, but it is very interesting to see the caves/cellars and how they differ slightly. A tip is to wear something warm when visiting the cellars as they have to keep them at a constant 10c to enable the ‘Champers’ to age correctly and ensure the right amount of bubbles.

Something else I learnt was that when you store your champagne you should lay it flat and it keep it at a temperature of 10c ideally. Also it does not improve with age and should be drunk immediately – honest!!