Sunday, November 30, 2008
Food, Travel, In this Issue...

Champagne, caves and cathedrals

A day in France’s Champagne region

By Katie Kelly Bell

Imagine yourself in Paris with exactly one day to experience one of France’s famed wine regions. Alas, which one should it be? Champagne, of course. When in doubt there’s always Champagne. Just a mere 45 minute TGV trip to Reims will yield ancient history, dark spelunking in chalk caves, luxurious Champagnes and a dash of modern art.

As a geeked-out wine lover, I’ve always had a healthy appreciation for the labor and precision that enters into the wine making process. There’s the grape growing, pruning, sorting, cold soaking (sometimes), crushing and fermenting, aging and bottling. However, making Champagne requires even greater delicacy and precision. It’s the difference between (with all due respect to my winemaker friends out there) making a mansion and building a cathedral.

The short version of crafting Champagne might go like this: Pick, press, ferment, blend, bottle, add yeast, ferment again, coax dead yeast into lid of bottle, freeze dead yeast, pop out frozen yeast, add a bit more sugar, bottle, and voila. Consider the act of picking: grapes are gently picked (no machine harvesting here) and cradled like eggs in a basket (a specially designed one with extra holes to prevent early maceration) as they are driven to a nearby press house. Because of the specific need in Champagne to keep grape skin intact, wee little press houses (more than 200) are located all over the region.

“Purity of the juice is our main goal at harvest,” says Pommery’s Cellar Master Thierry Gasco. “We do not want the skins to impart tannin or color in the grapes. This would affect the taste of the final product.” Later in the tasting room, once that first glass of Pommery tickles my lips, I begin to see his point. All the fuss seems worth the trouble.

About that tasting room. To make the most of any visit to Champagne, I recommend touring a producer in the town. Just a few minutes from the town center of Reims, you’ll find the Domaine Pommery and all of its Elizabethan splendor (Madame Pommery was a fan of English architecture). Pommery is one of the few that will lead a guided tour of their chalk caves and is the only domaine with actual vineyards on property (most are located outside of Reims).

To get to the caves, we must hike down 116 steps deep underground. Bring a sweater, it’s cold year-round in the caves. Our guide explains that there are more than 120 chalk pits originally quarried in the 4th century A D by the Romans for building purposes. Today, the remaining tunnels serve as an ideal place for aging Champagne. In the Pommery caves alone there are over 25 million bottles.

Toward the end of the tour, I find myself contemplating a single, very dusty bottle of Champagne from 1874. The caves are brimming with artifacts like this. How many hands have touched its surface? What could it possibly taste like having spent more than 140 years at a constant temperature and constant humidity? It could very well be exquisite. I run my hand along the walls, the chalky residue remains on my fingers. It’s striking to me that a place so cold, chalky and frankly inhospitable succeeds in aging Champagne into grace and elegance.

The tour has the added feature of the Pommery Experience, a rotating modern art collection displayed throughout the caves. Without digressing too far, it must be noted that the exhibits are progressive and fascinating. During my visit, I was treated to a display of live finches nesting in a curtained-off section of the caves. Electric guitars were scattered about the nesting room, and each time a flurry of birds landed on the guitars strains of electric music would result. A daily bird monitor feeds, cares for and cleans the exhibit. Our tour guide, Christine Prudhomme, confessed that Yes, a few escape the nesting room and wander the caves, but they do return.” Probably to get some more of that Pommery Brut—smart birds. Other works included a round ping-pong table and a hall of mirrors.

After touring caves, contemplating modern art and quenching your thirst with Pommery’s silken bubbles, it’s time for a short hop across the street to tour the recently restored Villa Demoiselle mansion (circa 1906) and all of its Art Nouveau beauty. None other than Madame Vranken, the First Lady of Vranken Pommery, designed and oversaw the exquisite rebirth of this home. Five years of work, 21,000 leaves of gold and several Baccarat crystal chandeliers later the project was complete. The second floor is crafted from old oak wine barrels (look for tell-tale red stains on the wood) and the breathtaking bride’s room boasts a commanding view of Reims from its top floor terrace. Here you’ll be treated to Champagnes from the Demoiselle collection after the tour. Note that both places are part of the Vranken Champagne portfolio, but the Champagnes are crafted by two different cellar masters. Hence the taste profiles are quite unique.

Finally, Reims Cathedral deserves at least an hour of your time. Expect to spend most of it gawking at the magnificent columns, relief carvings and stunning stained glass scenery. Note the poetic blue hues in the stained glass window by Marc Chagall. The other noteworthy window depicts a Champagne harvest and was commissioned by the various producers in 1950. Cap off your day of touring with a classic French meal at Le Brasserie Boulingrin. The rack of lamb served on a wood-carving board with herb jus is just crazy-good. Oh, how I want to be French. Enjoy it with a bottle of Pommery Brut Apanage (Gasco assures me this Champagne was crafted just for food, and who am I to argue?). Now you have only one job: Get yourself to the train on time. But if you miss it, there’s always Champagne. SP