Épernay

In 1864, the same year that Abraham Lincoln won re-election, and the year that the first Geneva Convention was signed, the 23-year-old Alfred Gratien set up his champagne business.

on the Rue Maurice Servaux on the southeastern fringes of Epernay.

To this day, they are a house that is guided by tradition.

In a region where some of the big names churn out millions of bottles per year, Gratien only makes about 300,000. and they're one of the very few houses still fermenting their wines in small oak barrels.

Also a culinary adventure with private chefs, restaurants, wonderful reviews of the champagnes throughout the valley, and some, for example, a bucket list sightseeing.

like Epernay, where you do have champagne as your main street.

Yes, caves below the ground, and one after the other of the great names in great drinking.

So yes, it's a culture vulture type of place, plenty of museums, plenty of things to learn about, how to taste wine, how to choose wine, how to select foods and pairings.

Did you know, I certainly did not, that because of change in climate, some of the very important conditions under which champagne grapes can be grown are no longer expected to remain the same within the next 20 years? Did you know that some of the great names in champagne vintners are moving to England, the south of England, where they're buying property and already opening wineries because of climate change, making that area of the world never associated with winemaking, more appropriate for the type of grapes they want to grow? Well, you can learn this in their museums, which are by and large ecology museums dedicated to understanding growing and growing regions.

But that's not all.

At some point in your journey, you will arrive at Epernay.

And I mentioned that at the beginning of this podcast because Epernay is the, let me call it the epicenter, the Epernay Center of Champagne.

[laughs] It's just mind-- And until you actually see it for yourself, it's like, how, how could that actually be possible?

Well, the whole of Épernay and Reims underground is, is just cellars.

You're walking the streets-

Mm-hmm

it in Champagne? Which area?

Okay, it's south of Épernay in the Cézanne.

Okay.

And the town is called Beton.