Getting Boozy in Bouzy: Highlights of Champagne, France
We had our first visit to the Champagne region of France over Easter weekend 2019.
Getting there:
The Champagne region is about 45 minutes from Paris by train. The train system in phenomenal in France and all you have to do is go to their national train website and select your departure train station in Paris (like the Charles de Gaulle airport station, Gare de Lyon, or Gare de l’Est) and put your end station as “Reims FR Grand Est”. If you choose the “Champagne-Ardenne TGV” station you will get there faster but be a few miles outside of the city and need to take a taxi into town (Uber probably won’t be available).
Where to stay:
We chose to stay in the main town of Reims (pronounced “Ronce”… because French), which is home to the biggest producers’ tasting rooms, like Veuve and Taittinger. The other main town is Epernay, located about 45 minutes south of Reims by train or car. I was a little underwhelmed by the hotel options in Reims, and ultimately we found the cutest room to stay in on Airbnb that only cost us $160 total for a two night stay. That said, though we enjoyed Reims, next time we visit I would also consider staying in one of the little villages to get more of an authentic experience. More on that later in the post.
Getting around:
This is one of my main issues with Champagne: to get the full experience, you need to get into the little wine villages located in the Parc naturel régional de la Montagne de Reims which are only accessible by car. When we visited in April 2019 there were no Ubers available and, therefore, we had to utilize very expensive taxis to get from one village to another (it can cost about 60 euros to go 20- 30 minutes). Some people rent cars and drive, but you will need to have a designated driver. Another option is to hire a driver for the day, but again, this is not cheap. We ultimately think we would rent a car next time because the very expensive taxis limited our ability to explore.
Favorite Meal
Hands down, my favorite meal in Champagne (and one of the best from my whole time in France), was at the restaurant, Doko Koko Bistro. The restaurant is run by chef Kazuyuki Tanaka, who also has a Michelin starred restaurant in Reims, called Racine.
Doko Koko offers a three course menu for 33 euros per person. The food is fantastic! Although this isn’t a Michelin Star restaurant, if feels like it due to the high quality food, presentation, and top-notch service. I had the egg with cream of mushroom, steak, and a vanilla/chocolate dessert, and it was to die for!
* November 2019 update: It appears that Doko Koko closed in June, however the chef’s other restaurant, Racine, is still open. Based on the excellent meal we had at Doko Koko, I would highly recommend splurging for the seven course 90 euro menu at Racine while in Reims. No French experience is truly complete until you dine at a Michelin star restaurant, after all 🙂
For comparison, we had dinner the next night at the two Michelin star restaurant, Le Parc, in Reims — their five course menu was 155 euros per person, with an additional 95 euros per person for wine pairings. Unfortunately, we were a bit underwhelmed by both the food and service, and would not be surprised at all to see them lose a star. We felt the food at Doko Koko was just as good, if not better than Le Parc, and the the price point was much more palatable (however, Les Crayeres, the hotel where Le Parc is located, is very beautiful and worth visiting for a glass of champagne on their patio).
Favorite Village
While we did Champagne tastings in several villages, our favorite experience was in the Grand Cru village of Bouzy.
Located a 30 minute drive from Reims, Bouzy has a population of ~1,000 people and is home to around 30 different champagne producers. The current vineyard surface in the Bouzy commune is 374 hectares (924 acres). The grapes are 87.4% Pinot Noir , 12.3% Chardonnay, and 0.2% Pinot Meunier.
There are only 17 Grand Cru villages, which are known for producing the highest quality champagne, so usually you are paying for it. But because Bouzy is located off the beaten path, we noticed there were a lot less tourists in the village… and we also noticed the prices were much lower than some less prestigious but more accessible villages.
We had made reservations at two places: 9:30am at Champagne Herbert Beaufort and 11am at Champagne Barnaut.
Both tastings were free, which was a nice surprise. For reference, we had paid 15-40 euros for tastings in other villages like Chigny-les-Roses, Rilly-la-Montagne, and Epernay. Herbert Beaufort’s bottle prices ranged from high teens-20s euros. Barnaut’s bottle prices ranged from the 20-30 euros.
Herbert Beaufort was a sit down tasting experience with the champagne maker himself, however he didn’t speak much English, so we were a bit limited in learning about the champagne. Barnaut was a less intimate setting, where we stood at their wine shop counter for the entire tasting. That said, the Barnaut manager gave us in-depth descriptions of each champagne, including maps showing where the grapes are located around town. We felt Barnaut’s champagnes were a bit more elevated than Beaufort’s, and we purchased one bottle of Barnaut’s Millesime 2009.
For lunch, we had a reservation at Le Caveau “Le Bouzy Rouge,” a few minute walk from the tasting rooms. We enjoyed a leisurely two-hour lunch, which was a pre-set three-course menu and cost only 16 euros per person! The food was really good (although service was a bit lacking), and it was a nice way to sober up and take a break from the champagne consumption.
Favorite Tasting Experience
We had a third serendipitous tasting at Champagne Arnaud Moreau in Bouzy. After peeking into his adorable garden, he beckoned through the window for us to come on in.
Located just around the corner from Barnaut, Arnaud Moreau also runs a small bed and breakfast. After being invited inside, we sat in a living room decorated with champagne bottles, modern decor, and movie/video game props. Arnaud warmly welcomed us in his French/English/Irish accent (he worked in Ireland for awhile), and offered us a tasting of his champagne.
We were pleased to see he had all of his bottles available to taste. At other tasting rooms, often the more expensive bottles are not opened, which is a disappointment if you are looking to buy a special bottle and are unable to taste before purchasing.
He sat with us, discussing each wine and his family’s history as champagne producers — we never felt rushed and were able to ask all the questions we wanted. Arnaud made us feel as though we were just over at a friend’s house enjoying a few glasses of bubbles. In addition to making us feel at home, his champagnes were excellent! Each had a distinct personality, which was a fun experience for someone that is trying to learn more about champagne. Ultimately, we purchased a bottle of the Erynn and a bottle of the Arrakis. Our friends, Ross and Jaclyn, also purchased two bottles.
As you can see from the map above, Bouzy is quite small and the tasting rooms are all located within a few blocks of each other. When we visit Champagne again, I would consider staying at Arnaud’s bed and breakfast so we could visit more producers in town (a few highlighted in purple). Otherwise, I would look for a similar bed and breakfast or Airbnb in a different Grand Cru village.
A Few things I learned in Champagne
Although we are devout red wine drinkers, I didn’t know much about champagne heading into the weekend. Here’s a summary of a few things I learned:
All champagnes are made from three grapes: white grape Chadonnay, or red grapes Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Often there is a blend of two or all three grapes
Champagne made from only Chardonnay is called “Blanc de blancs,” which essentially means a white juice came from a white grape
- Champagne made from only Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier is called “Blanc de Noir,” which means a white juice came from black (red) grapes
- The highest quality champagnes come from one of 17 Grand Cru villages, like Bouzy. There are also 42 Premier Cru villages in the next step down, and 261 additional “Crus”. This is different from places like Burgundy, where each plot of land is designated, rather than a village as a whole.
- Champagnes have varying levels of sweetness, indicated by words like “brut” which indicates grams of sugar per liter of champagne. The scale from driest to most sweet is: brut nature/zero, extra brut, brut, extra sec, sec, demi-sec, doux.
- Most Champagne does not have a year or “vintage” on the label. This is because each season they blend many years worth of grapes to try to create a consistent product for their label (think 40% from last year’s grapes, 30% two-year old juice, 20% from three-old, etc. all the way down to 0.1% from some really old grapes).
- HOWEVER, if a harvest is particularly exceptional, they will declare it a “vintage” or “millesime” year, and make a champagne using only grapes from that one harvest. You can easily identify these bottles because they will contain a year on the label.
- A non-vintage champagne is usually matured 2 -3 years, with a mandatory minimum of 15 months
- A vintage champagne is usually matured 5 – 10 years, with a mandatory minimum of 36 months
- Champagne is not a wine designed to be aged after corking; when the house releases a champagne it is their indication that it is ready to be consumed, so feel free to start popping bottles!
Cheers, everyone! Hope you enjoyed the post!
Please pin one of the photos below for your future trips to Champagne!
Click one of the links below for more reading on other wine regions of the world!
Thanks again for a great post Brittany!!! Enjoy traveling the world with you through your posts!!!
Thanks, Pipi!! Champagne was such a wonderful experience, especially Bouzy where you don’t feel like you have to give the shirt off your back for some good bubbles!
Great post! Loved all the details and pictures! I definitely hope to visit the region someday!
Very nice! Very informative for travelers and people interested in knowing about champagne I enjoy seeing your postings.
Thanks Buggy!
John
Hi Brittany, thanks a lot for your review 😀 some new customers came this afternoon because they found your article 🙂 We’ll be more tan pleased to welcome you again, and we hope into our b&b !
Take care !
Arnaud
thanks a lot
Ah, I am so happy to hear that! We can’t wait to travel back to Bouzy. Hopefully come springtime Americans will have a bit more liberty to travel haha. I’ve updated my post for you.
All the best,
Brittany