Champagne at Epernay

2/5 

The olds do the run, the kids do the read. Maths, Poo out, water in and off we go under a grey sky.

Most of the day is spent doing family business ( buying kindle for reader Kel; massive shop;attempt to get emails and upload blog in McDonalds.....unsuccessfully and finally having a nutella crepe)

Jeff & my shoulders relax as we reach the outskirts of Paris and drive through farming & vine country once again.

TomTom takes us effortlessly to the tourist office in Epernay, where we gather maps and Champagne tour information.  Backed into a free Aire municipal camping spot parkside, we polish off Wil’s curry from the other night and settle in for pre-bed planning. Kel finishes off her first book on the kindle bought only this afternoon! 

3/5 Epernay - bike ride through the town to Avenue de Champagne and Moet and Chandon tour, met another Aussie family, David and Lyndell + 2 kids Venice (7) a friend for Kel! and little Xavier,

Wil’s account of how they jam the bubbles in the bottle......

Method de Champagne

Epernay

Moët & Chandon

1. Grow the Grapes (Pinot Noir (black grape), Chardonnay (white grape) and Pinot Meunier (black grape). Only the grapes in the Champagne Appellation can be used and called Champagne.
2. Harvesting. Grapes are hand picked, pressed with only the pressure of two fingers.
3. First Fermentation (in stainless steel vats over a period of roughly 3 months).
4. Tasting and Blending. Nine winemakers taste each wine to blend correctly.
5. Second Fermentation. More sugar and yeast is added. This time it ferments in bottles for up to 8 years.
6. Hand Turning. Bottles are turned by hand to release flavours from a sediment. Bottles are initially horizontal, gradually inclined to 45º with neck down.
7. Neck of bottles are frozen, separating sediment from the Champagne. Screw top is removed and pressure pushes the ice cork (frozen sediment) out.
8. Cork is put on and left to settle for another four months before labelling and sale.

out towards Strasbourg, gorgeous sunny day with puffy clouds dotting the sky, wide expanses of green and gold fields, waterways bulging, sun setting behind us as we head east colours the foreground richly, could drive forever in this, Eddie shop, park up at a road side aire, Spanish salad dinner and a cheap merlot, woken in the night by the Czechs who pulled up beside us and yabbered at each other - we will be up earlier than them!