I'm looking at going to Paris later in the year with the wife, who wants to go to Reims to do a Champagne tasting tour, probably Tattinger. We'll be staying in Paris and would need to take a train or bus tour of some kind as a day trip. Have you done this please and can you recommend a tour to take, or give me any tips on what to do or not? Thanks!
"A man of little significance"
Best way is TGV from gare de l'Est. High speed to Reims. 45 minutes.
https://uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/train.../paris/reims#/
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Is it only me that just does not get champagne
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
"A man of little significance"
You will waste a lot of time doing a tour that starts from Paris, if it exists at all as a coach would probably take the best part of 2 hours just to get there.
I know Reims a little and have a distant family link with a Champagne producer but he is too far off the main trail to make visiting him worthwhile for you. Taittinger is a good shout, I'll have a look at the sort of tours on offer.
Edit: I found this http://www.reims.fr/383/visiter-et-d...reims.htm#c990 (in French, sorry!) but Google translate should help you consider your options. From a day pass to move around youself to a visit of the vineyards in a Citroen 2 cv, you should find a couple of things...
Last edited by Saint-Just; 16th July 2017 at 11:06.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
See above post. You may want to compare whether you do Taittinger, Mumm or Veuve Clicquot but they should be fairly similar. I remember (yes, I actually do remember ) through the night students parties in the cellars of Besserat de Bellefon as a good friend of mine was at Reims university.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I haven't done one myself, but Google shows up several tour operators offering a day trip from Paris with château visits, tasting and English-speaking guides, with good reviews and scores on Trip Advisor. It seems the cost is between 150 and200 Euros per person and timewise around 11 to 12 hours - leave Paris at 8:00 back around 6:00.
Tell her that you're taking the Healey or you're not going at all.
Looked into this earlier in the year as it's just a day trip for us on the bike, VC website is very good for information on dates times, types of tour etc, it would be between them and tattinger for me.
mike
I have done the Mercier tour where you travel through the underground cellars on a little train-something like 18km of storage tunnels
It was good
I do prefer a car tour to smaller villages such as Hautvillers (where Dom Perignon kicked it all off...) and smaller suppliers such as Roger Coulon and G Tribaut offer fantastic wines and incredibly friendly , down to earth service at their tasting rooms
Slurp
quick link to one that I refer to...
http://champagne.g.tribaut.com/
their blanc-de-blanc is a stunner
Last edited by GOAT; 17th July 2017 at 14:35.
It was so long ago as to be hardly relevant but I did a tour of Maison Mumm in 1999. I enjoyed it for the hour or so it lasted. From memory, we picked Mumm because we were staying in the Reims and it was the closest to the city centre.
Thanks everyone, I appreciate it.
"A man of little significance"
We recently did something similar for our first wedding anniversary. Flew into CDG (worse airport I've ever been in) and drove a hire car to Epernay. Spent some time there on the Avenue de Champagne and did the Moet tour which was brilliant and then made our way up the Avenue stopping at various places and tasting. When to a Michelin starred restaurant in Epernay called Le Berceaux (I think) which was phenomenal and then spent the Sunday looking around Riems. Excellent weekend and definitely preferred Epernay to Riems as it was less busy though the cathedral at Riems is well worth looking at.
Following a tasiting at the French Embassy last year I was going to recommend Egly-Ouriet but it would appear you haven't got a chance. It really was stunning.
http://www.scalawine.com/wpblog/2011/05/26/champagne-egly-ouriet/
Most requests to visit are ignored or refused it seems. There is no web site, few previous interviews’, no blog, no book.
It also seems that Salon won't be at home to Mr Foxy either.
http://www.salondelamotte.com/index.php?page=contact
Those were my only tips.Visits by appointment for professionals only
Its a wonderful trip, but I would choose Epernay over Reims if I were (and have) going by train. Reims is a fairly industrial small city, and the Champagne houses are scattered throughout. Epernay is a country village in comparison, and a number of the biggest houses (Moet, Perrier-Jouët, the previously mentioned Mercier,...) and more than a handful of small houses are all located on one street a few steps from the train station. Its called Avenue d' Champagne.
At the foot of the avenue there is a tourist office, that does tastings inside, and can help booking visits and tours etc for some of the stops as well. There is good food in the town, a lovely riverside park, really quite beautiful. All at hand for an easy stroll besides.
Because we are British !! We can't even get car parking spaces right - Although I note that LIDL have bigger space allocated
I went on a Sunday times Wine club Champagne tour back in the 80's - It was fantastic - Ex wife threw a strop so I went on my own.
Coach from Viccy methinks - Thoroughly charming people and we all had a great time.
Last edited by Brian; 19th July 2017 at 22:39.
We regularly stay in Reims overnight on our way down to our place in Uzès, it's only about 1 1/4 hours from Calais, we've done the champagne tasting tour but not from the cheap seats on a coach trip.
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