This past weekend we decided to go someplace we haven’t been before. After a lot of back and forth we eventually settled on the region of France that makes champagne. Fun fact: you’re only allowed to call it champagne if it comes from the champagne region of France.

We woke up early Saturday morning and drove the few hours to Reims. We checked into our hotel then made our way to the city center. France was playing in the World Cup so we grabbed a drink and a seat outside and watched the game for a while. Then after eating lunch we headed over to our tour. We had a tour at the G.H. Mumm Champagne House. After a quick introduction video we took the stairs down to the cellar. Each step grew colder and colder until we reached a temperature of about 50° which the cellar stays at all year round. Thanks to the chalky caves, which keeps the cellars cold and humid, it’s the perfect condition to store champagne. And store champagne they did! Mumm’s 25km of cellars stores over 25 million bottles of champagne. Obviously, we only got to see very little of the cellars while she walked us through the process of making and storing champagne. Ending with the best part of any alcohol tour, the tasting! We got to sample a glass of their reserve champagne (you’re only able to buy it in their shop) paired with a soft cheese. It was the best glass of champagne we’ve ever had. Once we finished our glass we walked through Reims a bit finding a nice beer garden to enjoy another glass of champagne (when in the champagne region of France, am I right?). Then after stopping for dinner, we walked to the beautiful cathedral that was modeled after the famous Notre Dame in Paris.

The next morning after a delicious French breakfast, we stopped at another Champagne House. Taittinger’s is the third oldest Champagne House in the world. The tour was much like Mumm’s but with a more impressive cellar. It used to be below a church before it was destroyed in the French Revolution. The cellar still has some relics from the church including stairs that led from the main entrance of the church down to the cellars. The monks used to use it as storage. At one point in the tour we walked into a triangular shaped cavern which was dug out by the Romans who were mining chalk for building their ancient city of Reims and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site (historical landmark which is now legally protected and can’t be changed).  Then we made our way back out of the cold cellars to our champagne tasting. Another delicious glass!

There were a lot of Champagne Houses to choose from and Alex and I had such a good time we will definitely be back again to try a few more.

Reims City Center

Mumm Champagne House

Tasting time!

Beer garden

Beautiful Cathedral modeled after Notre Dame

Taittinger Champagne House

So many bottles!

Another delicious tasting!