My Weekend in champagne - day one
On Saturday morning, we thought we would head into Celles-sur-Ource as our first stop for the weekend’s event. There were quite a few caves participating there, so we thought it was a good place to start.
We had a really good first tasting at Daniel Deheurles et filles. We got to meet Emily, Daniel’s daughter, and she talked us through their production and the various wines we could try. We liked their brut rosé, which we thought would make an excellent aperitif for a summer’s evening - so we bought a couple of bottles right away.
Our next stop was André Fays et Fils. But on the way in, I spotted a food truck serving Asian food, and as we were a little peckish we decided to stop for some lunch. We bought some nems and a bo bun, and enjoyed a very tasty lunch before popping in to do a rather lovely tasting. André Fays et Fils is a favourite producer of ours that we have been visiting for a number of years.
What was a wonderful little surprise was that we were offered dessert of homemade chocolate mousse and fruit tarts to go with our Saingée rosé Champagne, which was a delicious little addition to our lunch.
They produce a Champagne called ‘ Infinity’ which is created by blending wine from each year with reserved wine from the previous years’ blends. I think it now has six or seven years of wine blended in, and this is a continuous process year on year, hence the name. Of course we had to buy some to enjoy at home, as we think it will go well with BBQ’d steak.
Our next tasting was in Gyé-sur-Seine, a pretty little village about 15 minutes from us. Again there was a number of producers who had opened their doors. We chose a very modern looking, family run enterprise called Marie Demets et Fils. It was run by the son and his wife, however dad was still supporting them in the background, which was lovely to see. They had a purpose-built office and tasting area, which had gorgeous views of the vineyards and surrounding area. They had also set up an atelier for the weekend displaying art from some local artists.
We had a very relaxed tasting, and were delighted at the quality of the Champagnes. They were fruity, bright and smooth with savoury notes of yeast. Just as we like. Following the tasting we had a short tour of the production and storage area. All very impressive.
We had tasted eight champagnes throughout the day, and had a thoroughly enjoyable day out.