Uncork a bottle of champagne and perhaps you will taste something beyond ordinary wine.  Champagne at its best can be very exceptional: dry with a hint of honey, rich and yet fresh, delicate and yet sturdy, light and yet built up from a range of flavors, from fruit to nuts and even pure chocolate.  

The Champagne Region
A layer of lime rock of 300 m thick determines the type of soil of this region.  The soil consists of weatherworn limestone chunks , clay, silt, sand and lignite (a type of brown coal).  In the winter there is frost danger to the vines and so they are sprayed with water.  

The Grapes
In the Champagne region 3 sorts of grapes are grown : the Chardonnay, the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.  Most of the Champagnes, including the pink one, are a mixture of these three.  There are also pure chardonnay wines for sale (Blanc de Blancs) and non-white grape wines (Blanc de noirs).  In addition, there are good vintage champagnes (millesimes), that do not need improvement by adding older wine and blends of different vintages.  Lastly, there are the expensive prestigious cuvées.  

Taste - Purchases
You can visit all the major Champagne houses; some free, others require an admission charge. Furthermore, they have impressive cellars where they keep their  Champagne.  Some cellars can be visited on foot while others have a train driving through.  After the tour, you can taste their various champagnes, that can be purchased In the region, you can also visit small-scale Champagne farmers (VIGNERONS). There is no entrance hall and hostess, but the Champagne is equally delicious and also a lot cheaper.

Tour in the Champagne
We have four car routes that you can follow: From Reims to Bouzy, from Louvois to Ay, From Epernay to Vertus and from Mont Mort to Châtillon-sur-Marne.  Along each of these routes you will find both large and small Champagne houses.

The big houses
links.Mercier.  

In our bed and breakfast, you can taste some Champagnes from small-scale farmers.  
A votre santé!