Epernay the home of Champagne

Today we decided to go posh and did a tour and ‘Ice Tasting’ at Moët et Chandon, it was really quite interesting and a relief to be in the underground cellars, dress warm they said, thankfully we didn’t and it was beautifully cool not cold just pleasant after the hot sun of our walking self guided tour, the Champagne tour guide said they keep the temperature around 12degs. We learnt about the process of Champagne making, and the length of time the different versions are stored for as well as walking around a very small section of the 28km of tunnels Moët et Chandon use as storage under Epernay, there are in total over 110km of tunnels and caves! It’s a miracle the whole lot hasn’t collapsed, some must have used to flood regularly. At the end of the tour we tasted the relatively new ‘ice champagnes’ a white and a rose that are meant to be served with ice cubes, I was surprised at the difference the ice made even before it melted, the drink was very intense without ice but fruity light, refreshing and scarily drinkable with ice. Both are Demi-sec though so might be a bit sweet for some. After lunch, I definitely needed to mop up some of the alcohol with food, we headed to Tanneux-Mahy to sample their champagnes well I felt i couldn’t be here and not try it. The couple who now own and run it were very sweet his grandmother was a Mahy and apparently the name is popular in Belgium as well as Guernsey.Read more