I know, I know. It took us a while to get to the good stuff. Here we go...
Our first champagne stop in Reims was G.H. Mumm (like moo-m). After getting only a little bit lost we made it there for our 'Premiere' champagne tour.
Fun Facts:
1) Mumm is the third highest selling champagne in the world.
2) Cordon Rouge (red ribbon) non-vintage champagne is what they spray on each other on the podiums of Formula 1 races.
3) The best champagne is always in magnum (1.5L) bottles.
The champagne region of France is technically too wet to be a good place to grow wine grapes. However, underneath the entire region is chalk which helps the ground drain better than normal allowing grapes to be grown. The chalk also absorbs water and because of this, the caves where the champagne gets stored are humid and stay a constant temperature.
Apparently the walls also come in handy when you forgot your calculator...
They have over 24km of tunnels in the ground and so they give them street names and signs to keep everything organized.
After touring the cellars (and seeing champagne bottled in the 1870's) we went upstairs and sampled some champagne. Because we're awesome (and signed up for the Premiere tour) Kelly and I (and one other guy) got to sample two vintage champagnes, a rose and a brut, while everyone else only had one non-vintage glass. Suckers...
