A single professional focus: the making of Champagne Their special talent lies in the crafting of cuvees with a timeless style that is unique to the House in question.
Strength in unity The end of the 19th century brought a curse of a different sort: phylloxera. United against a common enemy, the merchant Houses rallied to the rescue of beleaguered growers and founded the Association Viticole Champenoise AVC, or wine-growing association of Champagne.
Drive out of the city and there they are. Everywhere around you will see beautiful vineyards which you can easily access to just wandering around a bit. Bring some baguette, cheeses and a bottle of Champagne, and you have the perfect French Picnic. Read this travel guide on the Champagne region for more information on this area, activities in the neighbourhood of Epernay and nice restaurants!
A visit to a Champagne house often means a small tasting and sometimes a guided tour. With some houses, you get the amount of the tasting back after buying several bottles of Champagne. So take a well-filled wallet with you. The house of De Castellane immediately stands out because of the beautiful buildings in Art Nouveau style and the large tower that can be seen from all over Epernay. Not only from the outside, but the building is also beautiful, when we are welcomed inside by the nice Dutch guide Steffie, she takes us through an enormous wine barrel into the impressive wine cellars.
Steffie tells us about the history of the house: founded in by the viscount Florens de Castellane. Florens got a lot of help from his cousin Boni de Castellane, a man from the high society of Paris who, in addition to his knowledge of Champagne, also had a talent for Marketing. For example, he designed the red and white cross that is characteristic of De Castellane Champagne. Nowadays De Castellane is part of the Laurent-Perrier group.
During our tour, we walk through parts of the wine cellars, which are over 6 kilometres long in total. Everywhere around you, there are thousands of bottles, sometimes bottles, sometimes already packed. A bottle of Champagne must age at least 2 years before it has the right flavour at De Castellane and sometimes even stays more than 10 years in the cellars.
Steffie shows us, among other things, how the residue from the second fermentation is collected and then removed from the bottle. After this, the bottle can be labelled and packed. During our tour, we walk through the factory where we can see how all of this is done. A visit to Champagne The Castellane is not complete without climbing the tower.
It gives you a beautiful view all over Epernay and the surroundings. Interested in this tour and tasting at De Castellane? Check the opening hours on the website and contact them in advance to be sure of a spot. We were given a guided tour by the spontaneous Melissa, a lady with lots of knowledge and humour, who told us about the house, the Champagnes and the production process.
T he owner, Claude Giraud, attaches great importance to high quality and modernization of the production process.
All this results in a limited collection of delicious Champagnes. After the tour, we taste three different Champagnes, rising from light to increasingly heavier Champagnes. We buy a bottle of the Esprit Nature Brut, delicious light Champagne that is perfect for the summer. Recieve a personal welcome from the Sousa family on a visit to their cellar… Image Credit: champagnedesousa.
He and his family personally welcome guests over an enormous oak table in their newly renovated tasting room, then lead them through cellars that tunnel directly under the square in the heart of the quaint grand cru village of Avize, and up into their small fermentation room behind half-metre thick walls on the far side of the square. See the celebrated Champagne grower Pierre Larmandier at work in his cellar… Image Credit: larmandier.
Tyson Stelzer is an award-winning wine writer, presenter and author of The Champagne Guide Click here to buy. Original text by Tyson Stelzer.
A true journey of initiation. Champagne Tour includes a visit of the walled vineyard. Great tour, excellent host and amazing Champagne. Highly recommended! The wines are aged in oak barrels. Champagne Tasting Reims. Few minutes walking distance from train station Reims.
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