An extraordinary sojourn to the Champagne Vineyards in Reims, France.

During our stay in Paris, we took a fascinating day trip to the quaint town of Reims in France, that houses the quintessential Moet Chandon champagne fields n champagne factories. Moët Chandon is a French winery and co-owner of the luxury goods company Moët-Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, it is one of the world's largest champagne producers and a prominent champagne house. The company holds a Royal Warrant to supply champagne to Queen Elizabeth II :) 
Beauty of Europe isn't unknown, but to experience this beauty is a stupefying experience. We felt euphoric, soaked in the beauty, the air, the smell around, smiled, sipped one of the best champagnes of the world and let our hearts be intoxicated with all of those! 

Our journey started at 8am in the morning from Gare del Est station in Paris. It took us about 45 mins to reach Reims train station. We had a 3hr tour booked thru Chris Event. We had some nice chocolate macarons and a delicious long baguette baked with ham and cheese, sitting outside the station, as we waited for Chris to arrive.

 Chris is such a great professional, and what a comfortable and happy tour we had!! I would seriously recommend him and his tour to everyone.You will find his details here below and on Trip advisor too. Our first stop was at Champagnes Pommery, where we took a short stroll outside, with some photography.

Chris then drove us to a charming little village called 'Hautvillers' (spelled as 'Auvilley')...an absolutely mesmerizing place..and all I can say is that we just did not want to come back :)

On our first stop,at the lush acreage of the Champagne vineyards we were explained about the grapes and their cultivation. later Chris also explained each step of champagne making in detail.

We then moved further towards the village. There we met a sweet girl from the 4th generation Champagne family of Fernand Lemaire. This was our first, out of the two families we were going to meet that day. We thoroughly enjoyed the exquisite taste of a glass of champagne as she spoke of her family's passion. It was a uniquely splendid experience for us!

From here, we went on to visit the next Champagne family of  
J M Gobillard and had another round of tasting a Rose (champagne variety/flavor) and two other champagnes. I also had the privilege of opening a bottle of champagne with a saber, it was a whole lot of fun!!! We were then able to buy several cases of the family champagne that was very reasonably priced.

We tasted over 5 glasses of super fine sparkling wine that day and what a heady feeling it was! Champagne and the beauty of the place-Oh what a concoction!  We then headed further to see the place where monk Dom Perignon is buried.The champagne Dom Pérignon, the prestige cuvée of Moët & Chandon, is named after him. With that last visit, we came to an end of our tour.

Later, Chris dropped us at a great restaurant in Reims, where we had some scrumptious lunch, with some Tapas and Roasted pork, enjoyed every bit of it. Since we had about an hour and a half for our next train back to Paris, we just strolled around the place. It was a beautiful afternoon, with sun shining bright and a chill in the air, with light breeze, if there's anything called a perfect day-this was it, for sure!! Had a gelato from a small kiosk, strolled around in a nearby park later and also had some espresso. never loved espresso anywhere so much, as we have in France and Switzerland!

The trip came to an end with us boarding the train back to Paris, but it was only the beginning of an eternal romance with Hautvillers and Champagne!!

Reference:
Chris Events
Ph-03 26 88 26 37
Web- http://www.cristourschampagne-ardenne.com/index.php/en/