An oenological experience Recently, we were lucky enough to be invited by Mme Ployez, owner of Champagne Ployez-Jacquemart in Ludes, to spend a morning at their champagne house blending base wines. Our goal was to blend our favourite Ployez-Jacquemart cuvée called, Passion out of 20 available base wines. When we walked into the tasting room, the range of bottles in front of us looked quite intimidating, however, Mme Ployez told us that when they did the real blending (assemblage), the team of experts usually have over 40 base wines to choose from. The blend Before we began blending, Mme Ployez ..read more

One of the most enjoyable things you can do in Epernay is to take a ride in ‘Le Ballon d’Epernay’. The Epernay Balloon is often referred to locally as “Le Montgolfier”. A long steel cable tethers The Epernay balloon to the ground by . A balloon pilot controls each flight. The balloon ticket office is next to the large central carpark in Epernay, the location is easy to spot because of the huge light blue balloon. For an adult a ride costs €12.00 for a 15 minute flight, you can also book on-line to beat the summer queues. You can also pay an additional charge to drink a glass of champagne durin ..read more

We recently visited the wine regions of Napa Valley and Sonoma in California looking for Champagne American style, hey, its a tough job but somebody has to do it right? With our love of champagne we wanted to find an American vineyard that produced sparkling wine in a similar way to the Champagne region of France. When we visited the Calistoga Inn Restaurant & Brewery the sommelier advised us to visit the nearby Schramsberg winery run by the Davies family since 1965. The emblem of the estate is a frog and there is a pond near the entrance to the reception that has a large ‘dancing’ frog in ..read more

Value for Money de Castellane Brut Millésimé Champagne 2009 represents excellent value costing €16.50/bottle, the same price as the de Castellane non-vintage (NV) house champagne. The champagne blend is 55% Chardonnay (from Grand Cru villages in Cramant, Avize, Mesnil sur Oger) and 45% Pinot Noir (from Hautvillers, Aÿ, Bouzy, Mareuil sur Aÿ). The Millésimé Champagne has a similar assemblage to many top vintage champagnes from Epernay which omit the Pinot Meunier grape variety e.g. Dom Pérignon. The Champagne is aged in the cellars for over 4 years. The minimum aging in the bottle is 3 years fo ..read more

Champagne J M Gobillard et Fils were founded by Gervais Gobillard in 1933 when he bought 1 hectare of vineyard and then struggled for some years to get the business up and running. In those days competing against the large established Champagne houses was not easy. J M Gobillard et Fils Gervais’s grandchildren Philippe, Jean-Francois, Thierry and Sandrine developed the company and today the 4th generation has joined the business. J M Gobillard expanded to open a new facility in Dizy and hit the 1,500,000 bottles/year in 2010. Terroir J M Gobillard et Fils are located in the the Marne Valley at ..read more

I’m sure you’ve heard about the three most common varieties of Champagne grape, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier which make up 99% of grapes produced in the region. Interestingly the Comité Champagne permit the use of 7 grape varieties to make Champagne. The other 4 possible grape varieties are: Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris (called Pinot Grigio in Italy), Arbane and Petit Meslier. The roots of the grape vine can reach down over 7m. In the appellation, 8000 vines are planted per hectare. It takes on average 1 vine to produce 1 bottle of Champagne. Grape Lifecycle Spring Grape vines come back ..read more

Have you ever heard the word ‘terroir‘ when people talk about Champagne and wondered what it means? Terroir is a French word that means ‘land‘ deriving from the Latin terratorium. The ground, topography and climate of a vineyard make up the terroir. The Terroir incorporates the complete natural environment in which a Champagne is produced. The physical location of the vineyard also determines its cru classification. Fossil Shells What does Cru mean? It is the terroir and location that determines the status of the Cru. The Champagne Region (appellation) has 320 villages in its territory, so it ..read more

Independent Champagne producers are known as Récoltant Manipulant (RM). These are growers who make and market their own Champagne made from grapes grown on their own land. There are currently around 2015 RM in the Appellation, but their numbers are dwindling each year. So, is all well in Champagne? Two of the key issues that RM face is that they a) can’t usually afford the export tariffs on Champagne and b) the challenging economic situating at the moment sees pressure on market share as consumers are becoming more cost conscious and some markets are turning to cheaper types of sparkling wine ..read more

Champagne Forget-Chauvet are located in the Premier cru of Ludes on the Montagne de Reims. Generations ago Mr Forget had 4 sons and they all developed Champagne houses in Ludes and today the family name can be found all over the village with Jean Forget, Gaidoz Forget, Forget-Chemin et Fils and Bernard Chauvet et Fils. The village of Ludes has the Premier crus of Chigny-les Roses, Rilly-la Montagne and Villers-Allerand to the west and the directly to the east, the Grand crus of Mailly-Champagne, Verzenay and Verzy. The production facility, cellars and a Gîte are in out-buildings next to the b ..read more

Champagne Borel-Lucas are located in the village of Etoges in the Côte des Blancs. Marcel Lucas began business in the 1929 as is so often the case the Champagne house passed from generation to generation and today Christophe and Céline Crépaux manage the vineyards and cellars. To get the most out a visit it would be best to speak some French, as this is a classic, hardworking independent producer in a village that is slightly off the ‘beaten track’. Edith GretenTerroir Champagne Borel-Lucas are located in Etoges specialize in Blanc de Blancs and they own land in the Grand Cru terroir in t ..read more