We stayed in a lovely flat in Reims overlooking the cathedral. That evening we headed into town, where we had some great burgers and wine at Sacré Burger Reims, thanks to Guy for the recommendation. Afterwards we had a few beers in the street, watching the football and enjoying our last few evenings together.
The next morning we started at Qanopée.
This was a very different type of visit, but one that I found fascinating. Qanopée is a joint project between the major wine regions of the north-east of France, aimed at securing the future supply of healthy grapevine planting material. The project focuses on the conservation and pre-multiplication of grapevine scions and rootstocks, including the preservation of genetic diversity from the regional collections.
What really struck me was the amount of work that goes into simply making sure that the genetic material we plant in vineyards remains healthy and available for future generations. With all the challenges facing vineyards at the moment, from disease pressure to climate change, the importance of good planting material is only going to increase. Qanopée uses a controlled, insect-proof bioclimatic greenhouse to protect this material during the pre-multiplication process.
From there we headed to Le Mesnil. Once again, the scale of the operation caught me off guard. Maybe I am just not used to Champagne houses, but every time we walked into one of these places I found myself thinking the scale is just insane.
After the cellar tour we sat down to taste a few of their wines. We tasted the Cœur de Mesnil 2012, the Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Millésime 2018 and the Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut. Le Mesnil is a cooperative based in the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and focuses exclusively on Chardonnay, so tasting these wines in the context of the village and the cellars made the visit even more interesting.
Afterwards we grabbed a takeaway lunch in Épernay and found some shade under the trees before heading off to our next visit at Follet-Ramillon.
There we met Nicolas Follet and his brother Jérémy. We first headed into the vineyard, where we had some great discussions with Jérémy about the viticulture and Champagne in general. I could see Jérémy is really hands-on in the vineyard!
After the vineyard visit we had a quick look around the cellar before sitting down for a tasting.
Nicolas, thanks again for the hospitality. We really enjoyed the visit.
And just like that, all the meetings are done and we headed back to Reims. Before dinner we made a stop at the Reims Cathedral. I love these cathedrals. It is actually useless trying to take photos inside or outside. It is impossible to capture the detail, the scale and the way it makes you feel standing in these centuries old churches.
Then we headed out for our final dinner together for this trip. We once again shared great food, great wine and funny stories and then, as per every lunch or dinner, a wine geek-out session with Etienne and Guy! 🙂
The next morning the group split up. Etienne was flying to Greece, Marko was heading south to Nice, and Guy and I had a 580 km drive ahead of us to Gervans in the Northern Rhône, where we would meet up with my good friend Thomas Fayolle.
It was a lot to take in.
This trip was never really about ticking producers off a list. We wanted to see the soils, look at the vineyards, understand how people are farming them and see how two of the world’s most famous wine regions are dealing with a changing climate. We tasted some incredible wines along the way, but the conversations, the vineyard visits and the people we met were what I’ll remember most.
And what a group of guys to do it with.
Guy, Marko and Etienne—thanks boys. It was an absolute privilege travelling with you guys, learning together, arguing about viticulture, talking nonsense, tasting some good wines and generally having a great time.
Now it was just Guy and me, 580 km south, and the Northern Rhône was waiting.
