Reims, the capital of Champagne, is the sort of city where you can indulge yourself, it's small enough to walk everywhere, big enough to offer something to suit just about everyone.
Stellar Cellars: You can't go to Reims and not visit a Champagne house and the biggest and best in town (in my opinion) is Champagne GH Mumm (pronounced "moom" as in "took"). Walk through their hallowed doors and you'll enter the world of myth, celebrity and champagne glory.
Just a ten minute walk from the station or three minutes in a taxi and you're at one of the greatest champagne houses, known all over the world. It began in 1827, a company of three brothers whose legacy is a legend. George Hermann, the son of one of the brothers, gave the company his name: 'GH'. and its motto "only the best". GH may be long dead but his philosophy lives on.
Take a tour to discover the history of the company and of Champagne. You'll learn fascinating facts and of course get to taste the results of hundreds of years of perfecting the drink that has become synonymous with luxury, celebration, love and happiness. I was lucky enough to try several delicious Mumm champagnes including the very special Cuvée René Lalou (an influential director of the company in the early 20th century). I have never before appreciated the many different tastes of Champagne. I mean Champagne is Champagne right? No, wrong! There are thousands of different flavours and some might only be subtle but others are really widely different. It depends on the blend, the terroir, that impossible to explain French word that means soil, climate, and a few other things. it depends on the ageing and the cellar master and experts who decide how much sugar, yeast and wine to add. It's complicated and rigorously controlled for the hundreds of Champagne house who produce around 320 million bottles each year .
Raise your glass: At Club Tresors de Champagne, La Boutique. 28 artisan Champagne producers belong to the club and It’s the perfect place for a Champagne tasting, workshop and to discover more about the bubbles. .
Culture Vulture: The best place to start is in the old town, with its streets clustered around the centre of attention, the UNESCO listed Notre-Dame Cathedral. You can’t overestimate the importance of this gothic masterpiece, it’s a truly symbolic emblem of France and a place of enormous history. This is the place where Christian France is said to have begun. A plaque inside the church marks the spot where on Christmas Day in 496 AD bishop Remi baptised Clovis, King of the Franks.
It’s the world’s favourite drink when it comes to celebrating and it’s one of the loveliest regions of France.
Champagne is easy to get to and there’s not much that beats quaffing the bubbles in the very place where it’s made! The two most famous towns of Champagne when it comes to tasting the stars are Reims and Epernay, not far from each other and perfectly do-able in two days.