CHEF’S TRAVELOGUE
A glass of bubbly with a slice of baugette, grilled squab with spinach caillette and bicycle rentals. Christopher Millar travels off the beaten path and explores Champagne like a local.
Journey to Champagne
Whipping up modern Australian dishes is one part of what I do in the kitchens of Stellar at 1-Altitude. This year, I have partnered with vintage Champagne brand, Dom Perignon to transform the restaurant’s private dining space into the very first by-inviteonly “Plenitude Suite” in Asia. The dinners were inspired by Dom Perignon cellar master Richard Geoggroy’s three-phase champagne release. And just like the different stages of wine’s development, each dish is served with a series of video vignettes and projections of the four seasons. Drawing inspiration from my trips to Champagne, diners can expect extraordinary dishes paired with extraordinary bubbly (think, Dom Perignon Plenitude Deuxieme P2 2000).
From fine dining to farmers’ fare
To gain inspirations for my “Plenitude Suite” dinners, I did what I had to do – food research. I paid three Michelin-starred Assiette Champenoise a visit (during my second trip to this wine region last year) and was blown away by the creations. I particularly liked the grilled Farm Reared Squab, served with spinach caillette and drizzled with pigeon juice. It was simple, traditional French food but done exceedingly well. Another musttry is the Brittany Blue Lobster. This is chef Arnaud Lallement’s ode to his dad, so this dish will never be removed from the menu regardless the seasons.
However, my most memorable meal in Champagne was a homecooked dinner in my Airbnb apartment. I
went to the farmers’ market in Reims, which is open only on certain days. Going to the market is one of the best way to understand and live like a local. It is also a wonderful exchange with local producers. I cooked a simple meal of grilled chicken with fresh seasonal vegetables. The best way to have it, is with with a glass of bubbly while watching the sunset from my balcony and enjoying the cool May breeze.
Grower Champagnes
We all know the famous Champagne houses like Taittinger, Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot-ponsardin, which are very impressive (and mustdos if it is your first visit to Reims). Most of the Champagne houses have to buy their grapes from growers, some of whom also produce their own Champagnes, which I must say are often pretty good.
The growers’ Champagnes often have a much more personalised and smaller production, compared to the big boys. Just like good cooking, wine-making is all about the ingredients too. So these grower Champagnes, located in the Grand Cru villages, can be of spectacular quality for their prices. I highly recommend visiting the vineyards of Merfy, which is home to Chartogne-taillet. It is located seven kilometers north of Reims, and is on the southern slops of the Massif de Saint-thierry in the Montagne de Reims. What I really love about this place is how the winemakers use organic methods which promote biodiversity through cover crops, and encourages deep-root systems through regular ploughing (often by using horses than tractors). In the cellar, each parcel is vinified separately with indigenous yeasts, in oak barrels or stainless-steel tanks – which are all dependent on the grape variety.
If you’re up for an adventure, head down North of Reims to the Mareuil-sur-aÿ Village (it’s a quick 36-minute journey by car) and check out Champagne Marc Hébrart. Helmed by the friendly Jean-paul Hébrart, I enjoyed how innovative and open he is. Hébrart advocates sustainable viticulture and avoids synthetic treatments as much as possible – he vinifies all of his parcels separately to preserve their distinct identities. While most of his wines are fermented in stainless steel, he began making a barrel-fermented Champagne in 2004, called Rive Gauche-rive Droite. Though it is further away from Reims, I was rewarded with an excellent glass of bubbly paired with my new-found Champagne insights and warm, toasty baguette.
Sights and wonders of Champagne
If someone were to ask what stood out for me about Champagne apart from the vineyard visits, it would have to be the Reims Cathedral. It was where every French king, from Charles the Simple to Charles X, was crowned right here. Before you enter, pause below the portals, which have more sculptures than any other European cathedral except for Chartres. Combine a visit to the Palace of Tau next door, where the cathedral’s treasury is on show and where the the post-coronation banquet would take place. Do also check out the Holy Ampulla, which contains a fragment of the flask used to anoint the kings in the coronation ceremony but was smashed during the Revolution. A little tidbit for fans of modern art: Marc Chagall designed the stained glass windows on the axis of the apse, and these were added in 1974, several decades after the cathedral was damaged during the First World War.
History buffs will enjoy the Château de Sedan tour. Completed in the mid-16th century, it was the largest feudal fortress in Europe – 4,000 men could fit inside the walls; the narrowest sections of which are still seven metres thick. Let your inner kid run wild, as it did with mine when the horses and horsemen came out for a falconry demonstration and jousting tournament. On this tour I met animated characters in medieval costumes, like a belligerent knight challenging another to a duel. As I went through the ramparts and bastions I learned about how the Princes of Sedan wielded power at this fortress.
The best way to get to all these places of interest is to cycle. Yes, hop on to a rented bike and ride along the greenways, which are reclaimed cycling trails on the towpaths next to canals. Or follow the route of disused railways. There are more than 400 kilometres of trails across the region, and more are being added each year. Case in point, Le Canal de Haute-seine starts in the medieval centre of Troyes and arrows through the green countryside for 33 kilometres using former lock houses as rest stops. Australian-born Christopher Millar was the executive chef of the legendary Windsor Hotel in Melbourne as well as the executive chef of Pavilion on the Park in Sydney. After a stint at the now-defunct Poppi, Millar is now group executive chef of award-winning Stellar at 1-Altitude serving exquisite modern Australian creations.