Back to Champagne Part three (or maybe four) of my two weeks in El France was when I returned sans Mrs. Robot to Champagne to hang out at the champagne house Krug for a few days. By “hang out” I of course mean “learn and taste things”. It was a grand time.
The highlights were two-fold:
1. Visiting and tasting their two single-vineyards wines
2. The last evening’s activity
Single Vineyards
They produce two wines that each come from small vineyards and are both a bit special.
Clos Du Mesnil is a small vineyard (4.5 acres) with only Chardonnay (although there was one lonely pinot vine in the corner) and Clos d'Ambonnay (1.5 acres) which is a pinot noir vineyard. “Clos” being the name you give to a walled-in vineyard. Clos du Mesnil is a walled in vineyard in the middle of the village (Mesnil) and d’Ambonnay is walled in and on the edge of a village.
They make two very celebrated wines here and it was super special and exciting to not just set foot in these vineyards but to also taste both wines while there. I’ve had Clos du Mesnil before - including the week before on our wedding anniversary - but had never tasted Clos d’Ambonnay before because there isn’t a lot of it and it costs around 2,500$/bottle.
What does a $2,500 bottle of wine taste like? While standing in the actual vineyard? Here’s an actual quote from my notebook: “This is the most interesting wine I’ve ever tasted”.
It’s all Pinot Noir and there is an obvious red fruit note on this wine as well as a body and structure that puzzled my brain.
Wonderful experience.
“I love a good tuk-tuk”
After two days in Champagne we return to Paris. We’re told that they will pick us up for dinner at 7:30. When we all meet in front of the hotel to go to dinner, there is a line of tuk-tuks waiting for us. Yes! We all climb in and spend the next 20 minutes or so racing through the streets of Paris. It was great fun.
Eventually, we cross the Seine and descend down to the river’s edge where a boat awaits us.
Of course, as you’d expect, once on the boat there is a cooking class. And then champange. And a band. And a great dinner. Oh, and the city of Paris gliding by.
It was insanely fun.
The Other Posts
Did you see all the other posts from my last trip to France?
Read them here! On the interwebs!
