AND GOD CREATED CHAMPAGNE

Synonymous with celebration and glamor, it’s enough to make everyone’s head spin. But what is the secret of this wine, nicknamed the nectar of the kings? Investigation of the ancestral lands of Champagne.

“Champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after she has drunk it”, said the Marquise de Pompadour, Louis XV’S favourite. It is said that she was so overjoyed by it, that the very first champagne glass was moulded from her breast. Legend perhaps; nonetheless: from the 18th century onwards, no celebration or banquet in the King’s court was without this sparkling wine that made everybody so cheerful and talkative. The Regent served it at their swinging libertine parties and aristocrats raised a glass to their lips before stepping up to the guillotine. But what is the secret of this drink that makes us feel so lighthearted while consoling facing all the world’s ills, as Wagner claimed? How can we explain that these bubbles, which were considered to be a manufacturing defect and also blew up the bottles in the cellar, produce this sweet euphoria and give the impression of being able to tickle the stars? I took the road that leads to these legendary lands east of Paris with the goal to better understand the nature and scope behind this facinating phenomenon.

The first leg of my journey: Reims and its chalk quarries is where the monks of the Middle Ages used to preserve their wines in the old chalk quarries. “You can’t miss this”, a friend whispered, seemingly saying that all the magic of champagne was very much due to these underground galleries that have existed for centuries. All the famous companies have them, whether it be Krug or Ruinart, but Taittinger is where my steps lead me. The company, founded in 1932, was built on the very site of the Church of Saint Nicaise, destroyed by the revolutionaries. This explains the presence of this four-kilometre-long network of chalk galeries, which can be reached by going down a staircase, twenty metres underground. We must imagine these thirteenth century Benedictine monks with their black cowl and torch in hand walking these catacombs-like galeries with damp and crumbly walls, pierced with wooden doors on which we can still recognize the cross, the hammer and nails of the passion of Christ. Thrills. Two million bottles are stored there today, and yet there’s been no revelation when it comes time to tasting the nectar. An elegant, feminine wine, with the beautiful acidity characteristic of chardonnays. But no divine surprise. These chalk quarries may be a magnificent tomb but the true life of these wines takes place elsewhere.

Speaking of elsewhere… The cathedral, a few hundred meters away, certainly transports us there. A Gothic masterpiece whose abundant statues on the façade makes you dizzy. Clovis was baptized here and Joan of Arc, the peasant woman who responded to God’s call, took Charles VII to be crowned after defeating the English at Orléans. In the south arm of the transept, I discover a marvellous lancet, stained glass window in homage to champagne wine, commissioned from the master glassmaker Jacques Simon, who reconnects with the art of stained glass from the medieval guilds representing the work of the winegrowers and their patron saints. Centuries of men and women who have worked in the vineyards are gazing down at me. Centuries of patience, love of the land, traditions and prayers. The past is probably the best teacher to learn the art of winemaking and that’s probably where I have to look.

That evening, I check my bags in at the Royal Champagne, a former coach inn between Reims and Epernay, where Napoleon stopped before his coronation. Here again, champagne is everywhere. It’s in the bubble-filled chandeliers in the entrance, in the golden blond colors or the light wood walls or gray floors, the modern furniture, in the books or the large bay window where prestigious wines are stored, not to mention the very beautiful panorama over the vineyards and the Marne flowing below.

At the table, I engage in a conversation with the sommelier: today it’s fashionable to make wines from a single parcel of land, he explains, or to add as little sugar as possible (which is in the famous expedition liqueur that is added at the end of the second fermentation) in order to enhance the value of the grape. He decided to surprise me by giving me a taste of a “brut nature 100% meunier” - one of the three champagne grape varieties along with chardonnay and pinot noir, but probably the least rated. This wine is a lovely discovery, both fresh and gourmet and goes perfectly with my roasted asparagus. If there are the famous brands on one side, there are a multitude of small winegrowers on the other, who supply them or produce their own wine, making champagne a story in perpetual movement. The next day, I decided to meet them in the field. Our cicerone and guide, Isabelle Rousseaux, who organizes private tours for tourists, comes to pick us up with her electric Méhari in the heart of Aÿ, one of the seventeen villages classified as a Grand Cru. As we pass an alleyway, she points out the door of Henri IV’S wine press, and a little further on that of François I.

If the wine from Aÿ, as it was called at the time, had a great reputation in the Kings court, it did not yet contain any bubbles. Here, this was called a “still wine”, which was not fermented a second time in the bottle. The real miracle was going to happen in the 17th century, when some English aristocrats, wishing to bring some back to the land of Albion, bottled it without the fermentation being completed. The foaming liquid they discovered when they opened it delighted them and they adopted it, despite the overly sweet taste that hides the grape flavour. This serendipitous discovery of effervescence was still far from producing great wines. A little further on, another revelation awaits me: the Clos Saint Jacques. A few vines planted directly in the ground that survived the severe phylloxera crisis in the 19th century. Because of this insect that comes from America and gnaws on the roots of

plants from the inside, all vines today are top grafted. Except for this one, from which Bollinger draws about three thousand bottles that collectors buy up every year. The reason for this miracle? No one knows and this Cuvée Vieilles Vignes is one of Aÿ’s pride and joy.

We soon leave the village with its 19th century mansions to climb up the countryside. The slopes of the Montagne de Reims begin here. Probably one of the most beautiful landscapes in the area. In front of us stands a hill with its checkerboard vineyards and infinite shades of green.

Spots of chalk appear here and there, yellow bouquets of dandelions, crows flying in the sky, and already the first buds pointing their cottony heads along the vine shoots. A winegrower is already at work selecting them. I talk to him while his companion is turning the earth straddling his auger before uprooting the dead vine. For the plots of land with difficult access, he sometimes ploughs the soil with a horse. The most important thing, he explains to me, is that the grapes are not “stained”, that is to say that their skin does not discolour the juice. It is undoubtedly this constant concern for the fruit and this intimate knowledge of the terroir that explains the high quality of the champagnes. And yet not all of them are equal. There are some nice surprises from these small producers, but to taste exceptional wines, you have to go to Epernay, on the avenue de Champagne. The most expensive in the world as they say, since most of the major champagne producers have their cellars here, where 200 million corked bottles are resting peacefully.

The 19th century facades line up on each side with their pompous, bourgeois allure. I park my car at 25 bis, property of Leclerc Briant. A very beautiful guest house with its terrace on the same level and its shop opening on the avenue. The decor of this private mansion, which once belonged to the Mercier family, has barely changed, and I find all the discreet charm of the province I love so much. Frédéric Zeimett, who joined forces with an American couple to take over the brand in 2012, welcomes us to a sumptuous dinner in the lounge lined with authentic wallpaper by Zuber. A rarity. But it’s not the only one. Leclerc-briant makes a point of honour to develop its wines using biodynamic methods. That is, zero pesticides, natural yeast, no added sugar. “I don’t like to say that it’s natural champagne because we’re not like those winegrowers who produce orange-flavoured wine that smells like a boar’s ass”, Frédéric confides to me. A savoury formula which holds true: the cuvé La Croisette, which he offers me to taste, is of a rare delicacy. But the highlight of the show is undoubtedly the Cuvée abysse Millésime: after two years in the cellar, it stayed underwater, sixty metres deep for one year, off the bay near Ouessant. The glass of the bottle is still inlaid with shells and sediments as if it had just been fished out. “The sea energizes the wine”, he explains. An energy that explodes in the mouth and expands over time, like a wave. Didn’t Max Jacob write: “Champagne, if you take time to listen to it, the foam in a glass makes the same sound as the sea on the sand.” Perhaps that’s the secret of great champagne: let nature speak for itself. But it is also necessary to know how to understand it, and which one man among all the others, knew how to do it…

TO GET THERE

Specialist in tailor-made trips, Voyageurs du Monde offers a wide variety of wine tourism tours in France. One package proposes to go on the road for 5 days and visit the great vintages of Champagne and Burgundy (from 2,200 € per person). Car rental, prestigious rooms, starred restaurant in Reims, not to mention the private cruise with tasting on the Marne river or the discovery of the Champagne vineyards THE MONK THAT BROUGHT CHAMPAGNE TO LIFE

It is rare to be able to enter the venerable abbey of Saint Pierre d’hautvillers where Dom Pérignon lived. The Moët-et-chandon family, who bought the estate in the 19th century and only opened for a few visitors, decided to revive it and wanted to transmit the unique know-how of this Benedictine monk who arrived here in the year of grace 1668. Adjacent to it, the old abbey church is magnificent and also houses the tombs of Dom Ruinart and Dom Perignon. Unfortunately, very little remains of the monastery itself: a recently restored wing of the cloister, the press hall with its old halftimbered walls, the Saint Helena door in the surrounding wall which reminds us that for centuries this was a place of pilgrimage, and especially its cellar. Right here, is where the still wine produced by the monks of the abbey miraculously turned into sparkling gold. Dom Perignon’s first stroke of genius was to assemble grapes from the best plots. And this, even before pressing them, a remarkable feat in itself. He would go to the vineyards at dawn while his palate was fresh and taste the fruit to find out which ones he would decide to marry next. He then imagined an extremely slow pressure system to keep the white juice obtained as pure and transparent as possible. Then he decided to let the wine rest in thick glass bottles, closed with a cork stopper, so that it can ferment a second time. Some people had already done this to send their wines to England, but it was still a coarse drink, both, too sparkling and too sweet. On the other hand, the bottles at Dom Perignon created the sensation: when liberated, the bubbles were of an incredible finesse that seemed to raise the aromas and strengthen them. All you have to do is wet your lips in a 2008 vintage bottle, which will certainly become a legendary year, to understand that this wine is unlike any other on earth. It is a perfect marriage between maturity and freshness, body and acidity, the virility of the pinot noir grapes and the feminine grace of chardonnay. Not to mention the special joy it gives to those who taste it. This supernatural joy. “Come, brothers, I drink the stars”, the monk used to say, before giving thanks to God for this gift from heaven. For in his own way, he had performed a miracle, like Christ at the wedding of Cana: transform a simple white grape into a heavenly alcohol.

with Isabelle Rousseaux, a passionate local guide aboard her electric Mehari. Everyone can modify their itinerary as they wish. Note that Voyageurs du Monde offers a concierge service, 24-hour assistance and a travel book app with good addresses!

Voyageurs du Monde: 55, rue Sainteanne, Paris 2e. Tel. 01 42 86 16 00. Voyageursdumonde.fr