Champagne, what's it all about?

One of the wonders that certain clever people have created is the magic of Champagne.
It is a culture all on its own, a marketing example to the world and just good fun.

Fizzy alcoholic drink, no not alcopops, something with style, exclusivity, desirability and expensiveness, just like certain smart shopping centres, but think Ascot not Wembley, Cowes not Twickenham, Bath not Bristol.

So I have been to the Freixenet winery in Spain, purely by chance as I was in the NE of that country, near Barcelona. That was a good experience and you can see the pics in a previous post. But I always had in mind a trip to the Champagne region of France, just for educational purposes of course.

The centre of the Champagne region is at Epernay, not Rheims as I thought. In fact these few pics are taken in a village called Hautvillers, and it is really the epicentre of Champagne history, being where the monk, Dom Perignon laboured and developed the Champagne Process.

The local Marie (Town Hall), very typical of the region.

Hautvillers on a weekday morning, nobody about!

But it has got to mean something when big wine barrels are emerging from the walls!

But shortcut to later in the day and 20 km from Epernay, down in the cellars of a famous Champagne House in Rheims no less.

The bottles are there!

The Roman caves are occupied! Note that the walls are running with condensation and it is just 12 deg C.

Click the picture and you will see where we are. 

Now we see the smooth marketing bit of the process..

Yes, the cheap stuff was 25 Euro a bottle.....

And the expensive stuff, quite a bit more...

But what an experience. Fabulous old premises built over Roman caves. But remember they really make the stuff down the road on an industrial estate, just off the ring road, next to the tyre factory, Ha!