a champagne saturday...

Yesterday, I ventured to Epernay, capital of the Champagne region for my friend Chrissy's birthday.  After catching an early train out of Paris (during which I wrote my last blog post), we arrived in Epernay just as the "degustations" (tastings) were starting.  We tasted four champagnes.  The first maison (house) that we went to was Charles Ellner.  Very fancy and very good, Charles Ellner was a great first venture into the world of champagne, as the proprietor explained to us how champagne is made and priced.  Champagne is mostly priced by the cost of the grapes, with about 1.5 kilograms of grapes going into each bottle.  Next, we were off to my favorite for the day, Champagne Dallancourt.  The proprietor was this lovely french woman with three young sons who were equally adorable.  In an intimate setting, she told us about her champagne.  This was so much fun, and I ended up going home with a bottle of her rosé champagne.  Next we went to Achille Princier, which had a tour and a degustation.  The caves were so cool, and it was great to learn about the process of making champagne (I kind of want to make my own now).  Last, we went to André Bergere, which was a great end to a great day!