From the Route de Chimay in Belgium, we continued towards France to Route de Champagne.

It is the region in the north-western part of France with the main cities of Reims and Epernay – as the center of the champagne agriculture.

We were driving through hidden villages of north – western France, admiring the green landscape mostly covered with vineyards and blue sky under which many cows were finding its peace.

Oh France, how lovely you are!

Our destination was the Beaufort family, some 35 km away from Epernay, living in the hills of Champagne and producing its own certified Beaugort champagne since 1599.

Upon our arrival, the host decided to treat us with a glass of champagne rose, served in the atrium of his house. The champagne came as a refreshment since it was 36 degrees.

After the refreshment, small discussion about the vineyards started and soon we were introduced to the art of creating the wine. As a girl coming from the vineyard region itself and having vineyards at hometown of Krapina, Croatia, I have soon ended up in a discussion with our host about wine producing.

Shortly after that, we followed our host to his cellars for the industrial part of creation of a champagne and botteling.

The cellar was long, called and claustrofobic but we learned a lot about the process of creating the champagne. For the beginning, I have learnt that the grapes can be white or black, no matter, because anyhow the skin will be removed, what gives the juice the colour.

Then, the wine is stored i to bottles with yiest and turned every couple of days in order to get bubbled. Finally, when all the yiest segmentizes and the neck of the bottle, the special machine is inserted into a bottle which freezes first 3 centimeters of the champagne and pulls out the yiest.

Finally the champagne is ready to be served!

In the end, my friend and I bought some products of champagne from our host and we manage to get a photo with a champagne in a bottle of 110 cm. Talking about a big things 🙂

That kind of size of a bottle is usually given to a winner of Formula 1 race.

For me, it was a day of the champions!

My friend and I finished our tour de champagne heading to the city of Reims throug the Valley of river Marna. The sun was up and still hot.

We decided to give a tour throgh the city of Epernay and have a local dinner there. Of course, with a glass of champagne.

Au revoir!

To be continued in Reims, France.

2021

My new visit to Route de Champagne included visiting with my mother! ❤ Having in mind that we have our own small production of the wine at home, for personal use only – this trip was the full kick!

We were driving through the region and admiring the landscape of the vineyards. With 360- degrees view of the viticulture, we checked the sorts and tasted the grapes. It was end of September, so the fruit was mostly collected and already stored for the wine process. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the chardonnay and pinot noir still hanging there to try.

This time we visited the cellars of Bochet-Lemoine in small village of Champagne region, called Cormoyeux. The lady that hosted us with champagne tasting, guided us through the cellars which are family business for more than 100 years.

2023

Another favourite destination, worth re-visiting. This time I climbed to The Moulin de Verzenay. This windmill is the last surviving example of the many 19^th century mills that once stood on the windswept Mont Rizan. Its conservation was taken over in 1972 by the House of Mumm, now offering guests an exceptional view across the Champagne vineyards. So I had to try by myself!

As you can see, from the top there is a beautiful view on the champagne vineyards with all possible sorts.  It makes you think all back to the times of the Emperor Charlemagne, in the 9th century, when Champagne was one of the great regions of Europe, a rich agricultural area that was famous for its fairs. Today, thanks to a type of sparkling wine to which the region has given its name, the word Champagne is known worldwide – even if many of those who know the drink do not know exactly where it comes from.

The Champagne-Ardenne area consists of four departments – the Ardennes (08), the Aube (10), the Marne (51) and the Haute-Marne (52). The famous vineyards of Champagne lie on the chalky hills to the south west of Reims. Would you like to taste?

When you go down the hill to the city of Verzy, you can not go wrong if you go to La Maison Penet for some tasting. This is the best champagne I have tried. The most sophisticated, tender but brut at the same time. No other.

Our guide, Alena, was just lovely – extremely knowledgeable, friendly and enthusiastic. We learnt a lot about the history of champagne making and everything that goes into the production of it. Tasting the champagnes was a real treat (I’d never tried vintages before), and they were all very different (and very tasty).

In the end, we had a nice treat of Marc de Champagne – colourless brandy produced from pressing the skin of the grape, rather than the juice, to give it a fuller-bodied flavour. As you imagine, we bought half the factory of bottles 😛

On the way out of Verzy, I noticed the church Notre-Dame de Verzy. I wish we could have enter but this was the moment to rush to another to village.

The thing with the wine routes is that you try to stick with the schedule and what you planned but you manage to get off the course. We were on our way to find the restaurant and eat. On our way, more vineyards over the hills spilt over and we just had to stop and enjoy more.

Then somehow, we ended up on some local wine festivity in the city called Mailly-Champagne. Actually, it is a commune in the Marne department inserted in Champagne vineyard on the north of the Montagne de Reims. The festival spread across the village which is hilly. There were trucks and tents that came all across France, bringing their best wine for degustation and best food for tasting. My kind of thing. Hold my phone, I said.

In 2025

This was a one-stop on my way to Burgundy. The name of the village was Lusigny, near Troyes, which is the capital of andouille. The yuckiest stuff one can have on the plate. Basically, it is a smoked pork sausage that consists of bows. And it smells as shit. You can feel it from the middle picture below. Nevertheless, a bottle of champagne was inevitable! 😛

The name of the restaurant was Le petit champenoise. Cute, right? After the emal, a small stroll down the village with typical french monuments to the fallen ones.

And the road continued.