Our new program for the wine tour to Champagne includes plenty of delights, both bubbly wine and gourmet meals. We take you behind the scenes to some of the very best producers, not just the “celebrity names” of champagne. Three wonderful days to simply enjoy.
“There’s nothing better than champagne”, some say. Perhaps that is so. There is almost something a little mysterious about it; how there can be so much bubbles in a bottle of wine. But the entire Champagne has something almost mystical, or rather magical about it. In champagne we are almost on the northern limit of where it is possible to make quality wines. The grapes ripen just barely, but the wines that they are eventually converted into are both elegant and stylish.
Almost everything that has to do with champagne has an aura luxury. Our wine tour to Champagne is also one of the most “luxurious” that we do. (They are all pretty luxurious to be honest.) It is not only that there is a lot of champagne during the three days, but you will also enjoy some truly outstanding meals. If you make exclusive wines then you also know how to create real gourmet meals.
One side of the champagne scene sometimes seems to be more like luxury goods, fashion and perfumes, rather than wine. That is not so surprising; several of the best-known champagne houses are owned by companies in the luxury industry.
But when you come to Champagne you should not make the mistake to just visit the most famous champagne “houses”, the most famous champagne brands. (I need not mention them by name; you know them all by heart.) If you do that then you miss so much of what is most exciting and most interesting about Champagne.
On this trip to Champagne, you will certainly get to experience and to see some of the most exclusive that is in Champagne. But what we really want to show you is the “real” Champagne. Not only the fine façades of the big houses. Therefore, the focus on this tour is on the small producers, those who we sometimes call vignerons indépendants. In English it is sometimes called “growers’ champagne.”
We take you to some of the most interesting producers, where you get to meet the winemaker or the owner (not one of the six employed guides…). He, or sometimes she, will tell you exactly how he makes his champagne, and of course why it is so outstanding. (Which all are convinced of of course!)
You will get to try many different champagnes, “regular” champagnes, premier crus, grand crus, blanc de blancs, perhaps even blanc de noirs (!), brut intégral, champagne rosé, vintage champagnes, etc.. Maybe even the still white and the still red wine that they actually make here in the region.
You will also get to know all the secrets of the rather complicated production of champagne. Well, almost all. How it gets its bubbles, the importance of a long ageing in the cellar, the very important and special role of the winepress in Champagne, the riddle of the riddling, what it is that makes that different champagnes can be so very different. And much more.
No doubt there will be some time in the vineyards as well. At this time of the year, in spring, the vines has started to sprout with delicate green leaves. Probably not quite yet in bloom, but soon.
Not least important, during the three days you will get to experience some gastronomic highlights. The lunches will be at the winemakers’. Have you thought about how it would work with drinking champagne all through a full meal, with all the dishes? You will get plenty of opportunities to try it. I can promise you that it works great! (No, I do not want to hear “Could I get a glass of red, please…”) Champagne is an exclusive drink and the food that you will served is on the same level. It will be memorable gourmet meals throughout the tour. A quick salad and sandwich? No, not on this trip.
So this is the trip for those who truly enjoy the bubbly drink called champagne and can never get enough. Or maybe it is the other way around? It is the trip for those who are not yet convinced by champagne… Come with us and we promise to do our best to show you the best of champagnes and of Champagne!
Read more on all the details in this fantastic spring wine tour and gourmet tour to Champagne!
Why chance it and go on another wine tour when you can choose the best one?
