A stunning day in Champagne. Epeney, only 20 min drive from our ‘otel in Reims. There we tried a few champagnes and by luck found La Maison de Charles Mignon, drunk by the Prince Albert of Monaco, screened in one of my favourite movies “The Intouchables”, and therefore satisfactory for nous. Manon Mignon, 6th generation daughter of the family no less, took us through the various grapes, combinations gastronomique and refinancing programmes.
As happens with travels, she told of her favourite village, home of the “Dom”, father of all champagne, Dom Perignon. And so without further ado, we drove the full five minutes to Hautvillers – wow.
Nestled under the shade of a hilltop forest the village commands “the best view ever” out over the vines of champagne. The cottages (mini mansions) are all in keeping with ye-olde worldy, but clean, well kept, beautifully gardened and gorgeous. We suspect there’s a purchasing caveat; to live here thalt shalt invest shit loads.
Every second home is a cave (cellar), many have their own mini-garden-vines that merge into the vineyards spreading out down the hill below. We went to the abbey where the Dom rests (which was really beautiful also), then dined at the cafe d’hautvillers before heading back to Reims.
With the long evening still before us, we took in the Cathedral which has original stained glass and also replacement glass by Marc Chagall (of floating blue goat fame), replacing panes lost in the war, which is stunning. Parts of the site date back to 470AD.
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| Stained glass (original), Reims Cathederal |
Still full from our plat du jour, taurine du terroir, we opted for the, “let’s try one of our wee Charles Mignon ‘samples'” (if the Prince can…..).
Tomorrow (actually this morning), train to Paris to meet up with nous amis.
Trust you are enjoying these ….frustratingly we can't see any info on whether they arrive or not – your emails suggest they are….but just in case you are responding on this platform ….we're not ignoring you, we just can't see it. Cheers. Jeff