Reims and the Champagne Region

Between the two tours of the Mumm and Moët & Chandon Champagne caves we visited the town of Reims and their amazing Notre-Dame de Reims cathedral. The cathedral replaced a previous church which was destroyed by fire in 1211. It was damaged during the first world war but restoartion began again in 1919. It is one of the largest cathedrals and I had been in and featured spectacular gothic architecture.

Afterwards we toured the city centre and then caught the bus through the Champagne vineyards to Épernay. The vineyards were speckled with amazing fall colours of red, yellows and oranges against the back drop of green. The weather was wonderful and made for a very scenic drive.

Australian Abroad and Champagne

My first day trip out of Paris was to the Champagne region to visit both the Mumm and Moët & Chandon cellars. The first stop was into the town of Riems to do the tour of the Mumm caves. The tour lasts for about an hour and includes a tasting of either their demi sec or brut champagne.

Following this it was off to Épernay to visit the Moët & Chandon caves. The tour is quite similar to the Mumm one where you watch a video followed by a tour of the caves. Moët & Chandon are a much larger wine company with over 25kilometres of caves. 

Both the tours were extremely informative. I learnt a lot about the process of making champagne as well as storage tips and food pairings. From the gift shops I also picked up a 1998 vintage magnum Mumm and 2002 vintage Moët & Chandon rose for 74 and 43euros respectively, which is a bargain. I thoroughly recommend the tours if you're a Champagne lover like myself.