More Champagne, s'il vous plait!

This was one of the best weekends I've had in Europe so far ... amazing weather, beautiful countryside and lots o' delicious champagne! After renting a car and figuring out how to drive an European version of an automatic transmission, my friend Carson and I were off for a roadtrip to the Champagne region of France.

Champagne is conveniently located 2 and 1/2 hours from Brussels. Our first stop was Reims, where we began the weekend with a tour of the caves at Mumm. A very educational tour and three tastings later (Cramant, Grand Cru and a Rose), I left with a delicious bottle of Grand Cru and great early afternoon buzz.

Next stop was the Cathedral at Reims ... a beautiful Gothic cathedral. They were in the process of cleaning the Cathedral when we were there, so we were able to see the difference. Pretty stunning ...

Also stunning were the Marc Chagall windows above the nave. Chagall is my absolute favorite artist ... it was a real treat to see some of his work in real life.

After a lovely lunch in view of the Cathedral, we headed to Taittinger for a tour and tasting. The term 'nouveau riche" definitely applies to Taittinger. It was trying so hard to be classy and project the 'champagne' image of luxury, it ended up just coming off as clumsy and uninterested in trying to connect with the potential customers coming in to see there caves. Oh well, there are a million other champagne houses to visit. Off we were to Epernay!

Epernay is a drive over the Montange de Reims about 35 minutes. You drive through a nature preserve to get to this gorgeous little village ... really lovely. We spent the evening drinking perhaps too much champagne on a nice little terrace and then at a champagne shop down the road from our hotel. After sleeping off the champagne, we got up bright and early for a tour and tasting at Moet & Chandon.

Now Moet & Chandon is like the Microsoft of the champagne industry. They are big, they are bad, and everyone feels like they prevent small maisons from breaking into the marketplace. But really ... we were in Epernay, how could we not go to Moet? The tour ended up being really great. And after three cave tours, I think I have a really firm grasp on how champagne is made and why I like the champagnes I like. My favorite fun fact from Moet & Chandon: their best selling champagne -- the Brut Imperial -- isn't sold in the U.S. Americans don't like it cause it isn't sweet enough, so they make the White Star just for the Amerian market. And the you don't even want to know how much sugar is in the Nectar Imperial (my favorite). I am going to just forget that and continue to enjoy it anyways.

Before we headed home to Brussels (so sad), I made some significant purchases from some local petite maisons de champagne and then we went for an amazing drive through the vineyards. I can't even tell you how gorgeous it was. It was exactly what I wanted from the weekend ... just being out in the country, in the vineyards, and experiencing what Champagne country is all about. We drove through dozens of little villages and saw hundreds of vineyards. It was very cool. And I know I will return ...