Champagne

It's been beautiful to be living amongst the vines. And drinking champagne every night at Claude and Laurence's. But it was another thing to have a visit from Remi, Claude and Laurence's son, on Wednesday, to give us a talk on the vines, and a tour of the amazing cave we were staying above.

We spent some time in amongst the vines with Remi explaining how the whole things works, the history, the mixing, the vendange (harvest) and their recent move into organic production. Really really cool stuff.

Then we went down down down lots and lots of steps to see where the champagne is stored, and turned daily by hand. The cave dates back to 1873, and there were even black panels still on the walls from the second world war where they painted black patches to use like a blackboard for meetings. The cave is a constant 10 degrees Celsius every moment of the day, every day of the year, making it perfect for storing champagne.

Remi's passion for what he and his family do was magical to experience. He spoke with such passion and joy for his work and what his family has created, his family name goes back to working with the vines to the 1700s. Today, they form part of the Nicholas Feuillatte co-operative.

After the talk, it was testing time - which of course was redundant because of all the "tasting" we've been doing since we got here, though still very much appreciated!

And then it was time for dinner - at Claude & Laurence's - and of course, more champagne! It was Mike's French birthday so there was delightful birthday patisserie from the local boulangerie/patisserie, after a meal of Reblochon Tartiflette. This is a dish from the Savoie region of France, in the Alps, and Laurence brought the local Reblechon back from there on their visit on the weekend (they have a place down there), and made us this heavenly dish. It's made with potatoes, Reblechon cheese, and lardons (thick cut bacon) - no more words are needed. Two huge helpings, lots of champagne and wine, good friends, lots of laughter, and birthday wishes were had. A really great day.