April in Paris (and Champagne)
Printemps diary, summer six-packs and another blind tasting...
Hello, friends!
We returned from our most recent trip to Champagne over a month ago and I must admit: I’m still processing. This trip was a departure from our norm - typically Chef and I have fluent francophile Ed Mamou with us, as well as other guests. Often we’d tack on an additional city or experience (roadtrip to Lyon, for example) in addition to our champagne visit. The trip usually lands at the end of February/into early March where the appellation is relatively quiet and vine-dormant. Reservations and visits are easy to come-by, we rent a car and meander about. This trip was decidedly not that - in a good way!
My companion was Samantha Stanisz: Chef James’ partner, Mabel Gray farmer, patron-saint-sous-chef and support system for us all. She’s well-versed in fast paced travel, infinitely flexible, and a gosh darn pleasure to be around. Our itinerary was more industry focused in a hurry up and wait sort of way. We were there to visit our friend Camille (of Mabel Gray Champagne Society Master Class fame), who recommended we shift our dates to align with Le Printemps du Champagne 2025 - a week-long series of salons, tastings, parties and seminars for industry champagne enthusiasts worldwide. Reims was teeming with international wine buyers, winemakers and collectors intersecting at tastings by day and in local wine bars at night. Sam and I were seated next to Swiss cheesemakers at dinner on day one - they were kind enough to blind taste us on fascinating Swiss sparkling wine. We ran into them every day after in cafés, at tastings, and on the street. A veritable meet-cute of rom-com proportions!
A quick note on accommodations and transportation:
Historically, we’ve stayed at La Caserne Chanzy across from the cathedral, but this time we opted for a very centrally located Airbnb for the two of us to share. We did not rent a car, and I did not miss it! The train from Charles de Gaulle airport got us to Reims in 40 minutes. I highly recommend downloading the SNCF Connect app in advance of your trip as it really helps with purchasing train tickets on the fly. Get to Reims as early as possible and head straight to lunch at Brasserie Le Jardin where they will graciously hold your bags as you enjoy turbot with champagne sauce and marvel at the itinerary that lays before you. Ordering an Uber is easy for getting around within Reims, but transportation to Épernay is harder to come by. Coordinate transportation with your hotel concierge in advance or build in extra time to wait for a driver on a rideshare app.
Everyday felt like champagne summer camp. We were up early for themed tastings scheduled throughout the city - packed rooms with winegrowers stationed throughout, waiting in line for sips of newly released cuvées or 2024 vin clair. My personal favorite was Des Pieds et Des Vins, featuring standouts from Etienne Calsac, Charlotte & Jérôme Bourgeois, Rémi Leroy, and Sébastien Mouzon. It’s a thrill and delight to speak with the winemakers directly, asking questions about dosage and vintage variation and receiving lucid, insightful answers. So much swirling. So much spitting. It’s 9am, after all.
Because it was Sam’s first time in Champagne (!) we did re-visit some of my favorite restaurants and houses for context. Ruinart completed an incredible renovation since our last visit, building a walled labyrinth mirroring their chalk caves above ground. They now have a restaurant and tasting room where you can enjoy back-vintage verticals and delicious plates at any time of day. We didn’t tour their cellars this time, but instead visited Taittinger’s crayères for a succinct and educational group tour.
We had an unforgettable meal at Atome (formerly Au Bon Manger) with Eric and Aline at the helm, cooking out of their tiny kitchen and flitting about the room with obscure bottles wrapped in hand-knit blind tasting sleeves. No, there is no sign. Yes, you do need a reservation. They serve only the most thoughtfully curated artisanal charcuterie and smoked fish. No, they won’t serve you mustard on the side. Aline laughs uproariously as we stumble to guess the grape varietal in our glass, because she knows that ultimately it doesn’t matter. “First…do you like it?” she asks, mischievously.
Visits and tours
Aside from the Printemps tastings, we also booked with larger houses Billecart-Salmon and Louis Roederer. Despite their considerable production (approximately 2 million bottles and 3.2 million bottles per year, respectively) they both maintain a consistent identity and remain independently owned.
Roederer’s celebrity chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon artfully manages the house’s 240 hectares of vines spread across the appellation. Their vineyard holdings account for 2/3 of their production, meaning they purchase very little fruit for a large house (and only for their entry level multi-vintage ‘Collection’ series). Seventy-five of their hectares are certified biodynamic1, making Roederer the largest biodynamic estate in the region. Each plot is vinified and stored separately allowing for careful blending and a robust cache of reserve wines, including a 13-year perpetual reserve. We were able to tour the estate and cellars, glimpsing the disgorging/dosage line and tasting through their vintage line-up (the 2016 was particularly stunning).
Roederer’s most sought-after cuvée, Cristal, was created for the Russian Tsar Alexander II in the mid-1800s, who was quite paranoid about being assassinated. He requested a clear glass bottle without a punt, and therefore nowhere for poison or explosives to hide. The bottle shape and style endures. Cristal is only made in spectacular vintages and from all Grand Cru old vines. The tsar was eventually assassinated via a bomb hidden in a handkerchief.
I must mention another historical fallout involving Cristal. In 2006, Louis Roederer’s then-managing director Frédéric Rouzaud made detestable comments about the American rap community’s affinity for their champagnes. This led to Jay-Z publicly renouncing the brand and investing in Armand de Brignac’s Ace of Spades.
Our visit to Billecart-Salmon was enlightening. The facility was spotless - a nod to their focused, lean house style. Our tour guide, Jérôme, was kind enough to walk us through their Clos Saint-Hilaire vineyard. A clos in champagne is an enclosed vineyard surrounded by “walls or hedges that a man on a horse could not jump over.” [Cute!] Clos Saint-Hilaire is a single-parcel, only Pinot Noir plantings, using sheep and horses to maintain the vineyards (in lieu of machines) and promoting biodiversity with bees and cover crops.
This vineyard’s resulting wine is a critically-acclaimed, limited release of 3,500 to 5,500 individually numbered bottles per vintage. We did not taste any Clos Saint-Hilaire (though now it’s added to my ‘bucket list wines’ iPhone note), but we did taste the newly-released Cuvée Nicolas François 2012 which was exceptional.
We also visited Special Club member Gaston Chiquet for a lovely vertical in their tasting room in Dizy. My favorite wine at this tasting is actually on our list at Mabel - Blanc de Blancs d’Aÿ. Sam and I both came home with a copy of How Do You Put Bubbles in Champagne? - an incredible technical resource, which is available for purchase here if you need to brush up on the champagne method.
Our favorite cuvées…
Time was on our side for this trip. Our early morning tastings allowed for leisurely afternoons and long dinners. As a party of two, we had more flexibility in our eating schedules, and often chose the more casual option. One night, we found ourselves without dinner reservations, and wandered over to La Grande Georgette for bar snacks on their patio. Their champagne list is MASSIVE. I am always seeking fairly-priced bottles from producers that are impossible to source in the states. Welcome to the stage, Marie-Nöelle Ledru: an old-school “viticultrice,” and legendary one-woman-show. After more than 30 years of winemaking, she retired following the 2016 vintage. Her shadow looms large.
“Ledru worked alone, traditionally and on a small scale, tending her land naturally and making her wines simply and classically, all for the purest articulation of a great terroir. It’s no wonder that she has become a beacon for those who prize Champagnes that capture the soul of their region, village and vineyard…The results were some of the greatest champagnes of our time, the definition of Ambonnay’s surreal alliance of powerful richness with chalk-charged freshness.”2
It was quite validating to walk into Sacré Burger the following night, and see them commemorating Ledru both on their list and their swag (t-shirts!!). We shared a bottle of her Extra-Brut NV, savoring every sip.
I’d like to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to Sam for accompanying me on this whirlwind trip, and also acknowledge Chef James and the team at Mabel Gray for holding down the fort and encouraging me to keep learning through travel.
Upcoming Champagne Society events!!
Michigan summer is upon us and I know we all love to drink bubbles outdoors, so I’m putting together another round of 6-packs for pick-up on Sunday, July 20th between 12pm and 2pm. This 6-pack is an ode to our Champagne vs. Everybody series and will feature three champagne cuvées and three non-champagne sparkling wines. Be everyone’s favorite backyard barbecue guest and bring champagne to the function.
I’ll also be hosting another blind-tasting event in the wine cave in July! This interactive blind tasting will be a study in dosage - the sugar added (or not added!) to champagne as the final seasoning step. We will learn together how acidity and sugar play games with our palates. Follow this link to book. Can’t wait to see you there - à bien tôt!!
XO
Paulina
Mazarine Digital. (2024). Working to Protect Biodiversity. Champagne Louis Roederer. https://www.louis-roederer.com/en/expression-of-biodiversity
Champagne Marie-Nöelle Ledru. Rare Wine Co. https://www.rarewineco.com/producer/marie-noelle-ledru-champgne/?srsltid=AfmBOorRv7k_vKHx71VviIIaQEBM-9tKwOTKYYtG2kpWgRiF-vUpGB6R
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Hi Paulina, I would love to get the 6-packs but I won’t be in town until the end of the month. Would be possible to arrange it for another date? Thanks