Epernay Hotel de Ville....
Of course the main street is called you guessed it...
At the top of the champagne rack sits the undisputed king; Moet & Chandon. Well we can't vouch for their excellence of their champagne but when it comes to building a brand image they are triple A. They did not invent the champagne making process, (that was done by a little old monk called Dom Perignon at the abbey in Hautvillers) but Moet & Chandon did perfect the marketing.
They have even bought out Dom Perignon the business, I guess to add to their marketing claims of being the original and the best.
Champagne must be good stuff, because Dom the monk lived to be 73 years old.We wander inside first to the tour reception area and then into the boutique. There are a few other shoppers / tourist like us but the place it not crowded. There are no French, a few demure Japanese but mostly loud Americans. Maybe they had sampled the champagne a bit too much.
Mr Moet and Mr Chandon built their houses (more like Palaces) across the road from the winery. This is just a snippet of Mr Moet's shack....
Up both sides of Avenue de Champagne are the “Champagne Houses” which are wineries and cellars of some of the biggest international champagne brands.
Behind the facades are really champagne factories. Here another tanker full of grape juice is delivered. Note the white aproned man on top of the tanker doing the sampling...
Most things in Epernay are grand and that includes the public boys school...
Even in the early days when the city was walled the gates were very grand.....
But the good people of Epernay do have a sense of humor. On one of the main city roundabouts there were two Japanese style topiary trees until one died. Bicycle wheels were then used to give a similar effect.
We left Epernay without a drop of champagne passing our lips and headed for the ancestral hilltop home of champagne; Hautvillers. We were disappointed that the abbey where Dom Perignon did his good work is closed for renovation; maybe next time.The streets of Hautvillers are steep and narrow. The grape harvest is in full swing. Tractors towing trailers, trucks and vans all negotiating there way to deliver grapes to the dozens of small winery/champagne houses in town. Some go for the grand look but most are just nondescript home frontage to a compound where all the action takes place. Most of the time the gates would be closed and you would not know what was behind.
Check out this semi-trailer struggling though the narrow main street.....
of course it doesn't help that the car is illegally parked...
There was no yelling or tooting the driver just got on with getting around the corner. The truck drivers here really earn their money.The shops in the main street of Hautvillers have great “olde” world wrought iron signs hanging above their doors, which just adds to the character of the place.
The champagne grapes both red and white are grown on the slopes of the valley. There are some gentle slopes but most of the hills are very, very steep. They seem almost vertical in places. When we began to drive through the area we wondered how could all these grapes be picked and turned into champagne. The area of grapes seems vast. On the slopes if it is not under roads it is under grapes. We guess the land is so prized that not a square metre is wasted. The buildings are basically on the flat or land not suitable for grapes.
The whole crop is picked by hand by a motley crew of male and female pickers. No fancy company Moet & Chandon uniforms here; just shorts, tee-shirt and a broken back.
Right across the valley there are gangs of pickers working. Filling countless large plastic tubs with precious grapes.
The pickers are brought to the field in rental minivans. Almost every rental minivan in France must in the champagne area during harvest. Some of the larger gangs are brought in large tourist type coaches. On top of that most of the grape tubs are transported in large vans because most of the vineyards are too steep and too narrow for even small trucks to operate.
A fair few of the pickers are camping anywhere they can in motorhomes, caravans and tents. Occasional these makeshift camps have transportable toilets and showers.
Where ever you look there is machinery at work in the fields and inside the compounds..
From Hautvillers we continue our drive to another hilltop champagne village called Chatillon sur Marne. Another champagne town full of champagne producers. What makes Chatillon different is the colossus statue they erected in the memory of the local boy done good who went on to be the 11th century Pope Urban II.
From here we drive back along the length of the champagne valley through dozens of villages full of dozens of champagne houses/producers. Now we wonder how all these producers can get enough grapes to make their product. We never thought there would be thousands of producers of champagne. It is almost like a cottage industry.We are off to visit some knotty old trees, once thought to be cursed. The Faux de Verzy as the French call them, are in fact genetic mutants that look like large bonsai trees.
All day as we have driven though the forest areas we have noticed dozens of cars parked on the side of the road. Way too many for it to be coincidental. When we visit the Faux de Verzy our suspisions are confirmed; it must be the start of the mushroom season. The forest is full of people gathering mushrooms of all types and sizes. This lady and her friend got a very nice haul each...
