Today was an early day. Daniel picked us up at 7, and after gathering the rest of our party of eight, we headed out to Reims (which none of us understands even after the all day tour how to correctly pronounce). We had a small stop in town and the cathedral, and then headed to Tattinger, a large champagne producer. They had a video, a tour to their storage caves underneath abbey ruins, and a nice taste of champagne. We felt so fancy. And then we headed to a smaller vineyard, a rogue champagne maker. It was so cool to see the different between the big houses and the smaller ones. The smaller ones have no marketing, and their champagnes rarely make it out of the country, but they become popular by word of mouth. We spent a few hours with the wife of the vintner, and a homemade lunch, and tasted three more champagnes. It felt so special. Our last stop was an organic vineyard. We walked through the vineyards and people were picking that day. There is a short window of harvesting grapes for champagne – less than two weeks – and we were lucky enough to be there to see it! Learning what it takes to make champagne was great, each vineyard we saw rounded out the industry, our guide explained all kinds of nuances we never would have known otherwise, the other people in our tour were fun, and meeting two vintners and their wives was so special. Once we got back to Paris, we headed to a tapas bar. For both last night and tonight, it was funny to see a menu in France and another non-English language, and we just had to muddle through. Whatever we ordered was yummy, even if it was a mystery.
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