Our hotel in Reims is the Hotel Continental on Place Drouet D'Erlon. This is another wonderful old hotel that has been modernized. It sits on a wide avenue that must have been one of the main streets in Reims at one time, and now it has been modified into a pedestrian area lined with sidewalk cafes and shopping venues.
Our room was large and overlooked the Place Drouet D'Erlon.
The art deco opera house now houses two restaurants.
The pedestrian area is dotted with fountains and monuments. It looks like a very successful revitalization of an old downtown area. It is a lot of fun as evidenced by the young people who partied at the bar next door to the hotel until about 3 AM. Fortunately, we have air conditioning and could close the windows to shut out the sound.
Reims, the largest city in this part of France, holds longstanding significance in the history of the country. In 496 AD, Clovis, King of the Franks, converted to Christianity and was baptized at the church in Riems by Archbishop Remi, later St. Remi. From the time of Clovis until 1825 when the last king of France was crowned, all the kings of France came to Reims to be crowned and blessed by the Archbishop.
The famous Our Lady of Reims Cathedral was constructed starting in 1210 on the original site of St. Remi's church. It is a massive example of gothic architecture and the stone carvings decorating the cathedral are ornate and extensive.
The front facade is huge. Tim is the orange spot just to the left of the entrance. The cathedral was never finished. The flat tops of the two towers were to have been capped with pointed pinnacles that would have doubled their height. War, famine, and other troubles interfered with completion of the construction.
Many of the decorations of the exterior of the church include images of beasts. This rhinoceros gargoyle is actually metal and spits rainwater during storms.
The cathedral was heavily damaged during World War I, and many of the statues were damaged. After the war, John D. Rockefeller funded an extensive restoration of the cathedral which took 10 years. Restoration has been ongoing since. The cathedral is currently undergoing a complete cleaning of the blackened limestone exterior. This photo shows the exquisite artwork of the stone statuary and what it looked like when it was new.
It is hard to imagine the size of this church. At left, Tim is standing arms stretched in front of one of the main support columns. On the right is a view of the lofty vault of the sanctuary. The engineering that was accomplished here 800 years ago is truly amazing.
But we came here to learn about how champagne is made--and to taste some, of course! We went to the caves of Tattinger, one of the oldest, largest, and most prestigious champagne domaines in Reims. Their facility is built on the site of the Cathedral of St. Nicaise, which was destroyed in the French Revolution. Beneath the facility are chalk caves dug by the Romans in the first century AD when Reims was a major Roman city.
The chalk walls of the cave absorb the humidity of the air and cause a cooling effect that is perfect for champagne.
The next morning, we drove along the Touristique du Champagne around Reims. There are literally hundreds of small champagne producers along the "champagne road" and most of them do not export their champagnes. They are consumed within the country. We found them to be just as good and a lot cheaper than the "big name" champagne houses like Tattinger and Moet & Chandon.
First stop on the champagne tour: the village of Bouzy and the house of Herbert Beaufort, which has been producing champagne since the mid 1700's.
The antique wine press at Beaufort. The wooden "wings" on the right and left folded down to press the grapes. All champagnes in Bouzy are made with the pinot noir grape, as opposed to Tattinger which uses mainly chardonnay grapes.
TIm at the first champagne tasting in Bouzy. This village also makes a pinot noir wine called Bouzy Rouge, but only in certain years if the grape harvest is just right. We tasted both their champagne and their red wine, and bought a bottle of each.
On down the road to the village of Ay, whose claim to fame is that all the grapes produced by this village are rated "Grand Cru." That means the best of the best grapes. It also means they charge more for their champagnes! Is it just marketing hype? We visited Henri Giraud to find out.
Another old wine press made into a stylish contemporary wine tasting bar at Henri Giraud. We tasted the Grand Cru champagne, and marketing hype or not, it was really good. Bought a bottle and we were on our way.
Next village on the Touristique du Champagne: Dizy, which is what you get if you spend too much time in Bouzy!
Above Dizy lies the little village of Hautvillers, which has the distinction of being the village where champagne was invented in the early 1700's.
This is the abby of Hautvillers where, according to legend, a monk named Dom Perignon invented champagne. My cynical side tells me that Dom Perignon (whose real first name was Pierre) was just a bored old monk who started fiddling with the wine-making process in hopes of producing a cheaper, quicker high. He came up with the idea of fermenting wine a second time--I assume in hopes of giving it a bigger kick. Apparently it worked for one night, Dom Perignon came running through the monastery shouting, "Come quickly brothers! I am drinking stars!" And that was the night they invented champagne.
Now greatly revered, Dom Perignon is buried in the abby at Hautvillers, and nearby, Moet & Chandon makes a very expensive champagne with his name on it.
And this is what an afternoon of driving around "drinking stars" will make you feel like. Pretty wonderful!
So a toast to the end of our 5 week driving tour of France. And here's to the next phase: 3 weeks in Paris!
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