24 Hours Sipping Champagne in Reims, France: The DIY Version

Well, we’re only halfway through our stash of champagne we brought back from our spring trip to the Champagne region of France. For some reason, champagne still seems more like a special occasion drink unlike my usual less than £10 bottle of New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

But you’ll quickly find while exploring this region is that visiting the champagne houses is not cheap. In fact, tours and tastings at the historic Maison Ruinart start at 70 euros each while Dom Pérignon only offers private tours. Moët & Chandon, home to the largest cellars in the region, offers a traditional tour starting at 25 euros. Also, tours of the Reims champagne houses and caves generally need to be prebooked. If you join a group tour, expect to pay a minimum of 120-200 euros per person, depending on the amenities offered.

So this spring, we decided to try a DIY version of champagne tasting in Reims. After taking the 6:18 a.m. Eurostar from London to Paris, hubby and I joined four other expat friends – two whom had previously visited several of the champagne houses in Reims. To avoid the whole drinking and driving situation, we hired a private driver through Chaffeur Gold. Luckily, one of our German friends, originally from Burkina Faso, Africa, speaks fluent French, so he acted as our translator.

(Note: After arriving via the Eurostar at Gare du Nord in Paris, you’ll have to walk over to Gare de l’Est to catch a TGV train to Gare de Reims. Plan your schedule accordingly because the trains run about every 2 hours.)

1 p.m. Saturday

Our private driver picked the six of us up outside of our hotel (Appart’City Reims Centre) in a black minivan. First, we headed to the small champagne house of Champagne Pascal Mazet located in the tiny village of Chigny-les-Roses, about 20 minutes south of Reims. His friendly wife met us at the front door and then took us back to the production shed where we met Pascal, who remembered our fellow American friend from a previous visit because he had worn strange webbed running shoes. Le Americain!

If I understand correctly, Pascal practices organic farming techniques on his two-hectacre estate, so he produces a cuvée unique that is certified BIO Ecocert. This champagne is made from a blend of pinot meunier, pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. He also produces an interesting, golden-hued cuvée nature that has zero sugar added, so of course we bought a bottle because it was something new to us.

Both Pascal and his wife were quite charming in showing us their humble family business. We each bought at least one bottle from them, and I regret only buying three bottles because the Mazet originel brut premier cru ended up being one of my favorites.

3 p.m. Saturday

Unfortunately, Champagne Michel Fagot, one of our friend’s favorites in the village of Rilly-la-Montagne, appeared to be closed. Actually, several of the champagne houses were shuttered in mid-March so best to plan ahead. Next, our driver took us to the nearby Champagne Delaunois F. & Fils, which he recommended. This family operation was founded in 1920. We tried a couple champagnes and a fortified wine called ratafia, which I did not like. We bought two bottles from here – a brut nature and a blanc de blanc.

4 p.m. Saturday

Well, we saved the best for last on our private tour and ended up at Champagne Alain Suisse, whom we had called in advance for our afternoon tasting. Monsieur Suisse is a jolly, rosy-cheeked champagne maker who is obviously very proud of the champagnes he produces at his independent house. He is the fourth generation running his family’s small farm in the countryside. He also speaks a little English, which helped, but his French was slow and clear enough that even I could understand him at times. Both our French translator friend and Le Americain had visited here previously and were welcomed back.

I loved all the Suisse champagnes that we tried here, especially the brut rosé, which is such a lovely shade of pink and only cost 19 euros/bottle. Most of us bought at least six bottles from Suisse, and I regret that we didn’t buy more.

Hubby with two of our good friends at Champagne Alain Suisse.

6 p.m. Saturday

After a rainy afternoon at three champagne houses, our driver dropped us and all our boxes filled with bottles at our hotel in Reims. I think we made excellent use of our driver, and the total cost was 100 euros per person for our 5-hour excursion. Then, we just had to sort out who had which bottles.

A Snowy, Spring Weekend in Reims

8 p.m. Saturday

How am I still drinking champagne at this point? We walked through the falling snow into the city center of Reims and found a cozy spot at Le Wine Bar by Le Vintage. Surprisingly, the town was quite busy for off-peak season and we had difficulties finding a restaurant for dinner.

12 p.m. Sunday

Since we wanted to tour one of the larger champagne houses in Reims, we joined a last-minute French tour at Domaine Vranken Pommery, a historic champagne house which achieved fame in the late 1800s under Madame Pommery. We bought the 30-euro tickets which included two champagne tastings at the end of the tour. We relied on our friend to translate again since the English tours were all sold out that day.

The Pommery estate is one of a few in the Champagne region to have crayères, chalk caves that began as quarries in the Early Middle Ages and are ranked as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s absolutely stunning to walk through these historic tunnels with vaulted ceilings and look high up to see the sunlight shining down.

What’s also cool is that between the chalk quarries and tunnels, you will find a variety of contemporary art. The Vranken family has continued Pommery’s legacy in supporting artists and hosts a variety of local and international artists.

The only downside to visiting a larger champagne house is that the bottles of champagne carry higher price tags. I only bought one bottle of Pommery brut royal, which cost 34 euros compared to our previous purchases of 20-25 euros each.

The freshly fallen snow outside of Domaine Vranken Pommery was magical.

As you can probably tell, we had a whirlwind tour of Reims, but we had heaps of fun tasting different champagnes with our friends. Luckily, we can still relive some of those moments with our remaining bottles of champagne here in London.

Follow

Read More

A Girls’ Night Out in Saint-Servan, France

Being able to catch up with a close girlfriend without children and husbands over a glass of rosé is wonderful. Meeting each other along the Brittany coast of France to drink said wine is even better.

On our recent trip to France, my husband and I flew out on separate days since he had to work late and couldn’t catch an earlier flight. That meant I got to spend several hours with my Aussie girlfriend and her family and then solo once I got past a delayed departure from London Southend, an hour-long queue for passport control at Rennes Airport and an hour drive to meet them in Saint-Malo. No one ever said travelling in August was easy.

After a bit of sightseeing, us girls headed to dinner in Saint-Servan, a small commune located about a 20-minute walk  from the ferry port of Saint-Malo. This lovely neighborhood used to be its own town until it merged with neighboring Paramé and Saint-Malo in 1967 to form the Greater Saint-Malo area, which now comprises 50,000 people (plus 2 million tourists per year).

From the main parking lot by the sea in Saint-Servan, you can see the harbour and old city walls 
of Saint-Malo.

On the coast, the imposing Tour Solidor (Solidor Tower) guards the Rance estuary in Saint-Servan. Originally built by a Bretagne duke between 1369 and 1382 to control access to the Rance, the tower now contains a museum dedicated to the French sailors who first explored Cape Horn by southern Chile. We had a little wander here before we headed to dinner.

Since we were the first guests to arrive for our reservation at Le Bistrot de Solidor, our amiable French server let us choose where we wanted to sit – right on the veranda with the seaside view, please. My girlfriend had to twist my arm to order a kir royale for an aperitif. Of course, I couldn’t let her drink alone.

I can’t recall where I first read about this restaurant, but it is listed in the 2018 Michelin guide with a Michelin plate recognition. The restaurant offers an a la carte menu focusing on seasonal ingredients and a 3-course menu for 40 euros. We decided to splurge for the 3-course menu, which is still a bargain compared to London prices.

To start with, our server sent us an amuse-bouche of fresh seafood of some kind, which tasted like fresh crab and was delicious.

For our first courses, I chose the Portuguese bluefin tuna tartare and my girlfriend had the housemade foie gras. I usually love tartare, but while pretty and tasty, this one needed a bit of acid to punch it up a bit. The foie was lovely!

For our main courses, we had the Breton pork with mashed potatoes and the cod fillet with aioli and sweet potato puree. The pork seemed a little heavy for the summer season, and my aioli seemed to have an almost curry-like flavor.

Well, dessert was definitely the highlight of our meal! We ordered the Frasier revisité and the Kouign Amann, glace caramel au beurre sale.  A Frasier is a classic French dessert traditionally comprised of sponge cake, strawberries, crème patisserie and an almond cream. This one was had the same flavor elements but was plated in a more modern way. My flaky Breton pastry was perfection on a plate!

After our lovely meal and conversation, we had to navigate the small French roads in the pouring rain back to our countryside hotel. I rarely drive, and I hate driving in the rain even more. Back at our hotel in need of a lil nightcap after not drinking too much at dinner, I had to resort to using a teaspoon to open a bottle of red wine since the hotel did not have a corkscrew in my room. Ladies should always know how to MacGyver something.

I enjoyed my night out so much in charming Saint-Servan that I returned the next morning with my husband after picking him up in the dinky Dinard Airport. We found a small café with outdoor tables and each enjoyed a café au lait in the morning sunshine before we headed out for another day of sightseeing.

 Top and bottom photos: The difference of low versus high tides in Saint-Servan.

Follow

Read More

Visiting Scenic Saint-Suliac – A Beautiful Village in Brittany

If I had the opportunity, I would return to the picture-perfect village of Saint-Suliac on a sunny day and photograph every nook and cranny.

Unfortunately, our recent trip to the Brittany coast of France coincided with typical British weather. We experienced overcast, grey skies and several rain downpours, but that didn’t prevent us from exploring several of the French seaside villages.

Had it not been for our French friend, we would have missed visiting Saint-Suliac, which is rated as a Le Plus Beaux Villages de France (a top honor for the most beautiful villages in the country of which there are 150 or so. Remember that we saw some of these villages during our Provence trip too?). Saint-Suliac is a charming fishing village filled with stunning stone houses dating back to the 14^th and 15^th centuries. It’s the perfect village simply to wander aimlessly about with your good friends and dream about which house you want to buy. What do you think?

18 Reasons to Visit Pretty Provence

How this village survived World War II without being severely demolished is surprising! I guess it didn’t serve as a major port like nearby Saint-Malo, which is why approximately 80 percent of that city was destroyed. (When the American troops landed in Brittany in 1944, St. Malo was heavily defended and guarded by 12,000 German troops.) Although Saint-Malo has been restored to its previous medieval glory, that city is much too touristy for my liking.

Situated on the Rance River estuary, Saint Suliac served as an ideal outpost for the Vikings in the 10^th century as they ventured off on fishing expeditions and raids; and remains of old Viking-era ships and a fortress were discovered here. Local men continued to fish off the coast of Newfoundland for many years, and a statue of the Virgin of Grainfollet was placed on a hill to watch over these fishermen. Today, you’ll still find many small fishing boats in the harbour as well as fishing nets covering the walls throughout the village. How cute are these houses?

The statue of Virgin of Grainfollet is located on the hillside in the distance.

As we wandered down the network of narrow lanes - the ruettes – which veer off the main street heading down to the harbour, I found myself stopping to take photographs of everything. I love old doors, windows and brightly-colored wooden shutters. However, the rain was against me; and I had a darling eight-year-old that wanted to play photographer with my nearly 2 kilo camera as well.

In the middle of the village, we discovered one of the oldest churches of Brittany. The Church of Saint-Suliac was built in the 13th century and has some pretty stained-glass windows inside. The village itself has religious beginnings because in 560, a Welsh monk named Tysilio (or Suliau) – later called Suliac – founded a monastery and chapel here, which was the first church in the village.

If you get hungry, Saint-Suliac has a couple of restaurants, a creperie or two and a patisserie. But beware of Sundays because most places were closed, and others required reservations. 

Luckily, we found a free outdoor table under the large terrace at la ferme du boucanier so we could escape the rain. I didn’t even realize that this restaurant had a 2018 Michelin guide plate recognition until after we had already ordered our lunch. The food was good (maybe not so pretty to look at), and the desserts were even better especially the Breton flaky pastry known as kouign amann that was served with salted caramel and Chantilly cream. To. Die. For. Plus, the service was lovely…always a plus when you sometimes encounter surly Frenchies in the country.

If you find yourself near Saint-Malo, do yourself a favor and take a detour to Saint-Suliac – where you will find a preserved village of weathered houses with colourful shutters – a photographer’s dream.

Follow

Read More