Champagne Taittinger, Reims

With all this Champagne immersion of late it seemed the right thing to do. Hop on the TGV for a quick 45 minute ride to REIMS, Champers (British for Champagne) country.

When its off season, you don't need an advanced reservation to visit the Caves. And there is no better place to be during the heat wave by the way. I thought I'd start off at TAITTINGER thinking I'd make the rounds to 3 other houses. That didn’t happen. Immersion in one house is perfect for a day trip.  Reims has small shuttle buses 🚌 that take you from the train 🚊 station to the maisons. Plus there is a tourist office at the station to help you out with reservations etc. Of the many trips I've made to Reims this was one of the best, hot as it was 👍

The outside may not look impressive. Inside the 13th-century chalk cellars were once the property of Saint Nicaise abbey.

There were 6 of us, so we got the full history of the wines and the house. Taittinger is the 7th largest house in the area producing 6 million bottles per year (Moet is the first). Its also the last of the large family-owned houses. They sold out at one point & then bought it back. There is a total of 5,000 (!) champagne makers in the area. Its easy to understand why they are so protective of the name 'Champagne'.

We go down another 70 meters where the finest wines are aging. And take an elevator back up 🙏

The bottles are still turned by hand to aggitate the sediment in the neck. One person can turn thousands of bottles per day..maybe 70 (!?). During WWI many inhabitants hid in the caves for months at a time. They carved their initials onto the walls as a momento.

Upstairs in the tasting room we got to sample glorious wines. The bubbles (bulles) of fine Champagne are tiny.

'Nose' the wine and sense the buttery, toasty, briochie and creamy flavors. So delicate and light. I didn't feel the least bit heady or drunk as I usually do with this amount of wine. No wonder Remois tell you they drink Champagne for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If its this refined quality I'm happy to join in. I think I've been painting my bubbles too big and splashy :-()

Taittinger Champagne was the wine sponsor for Les Bleus in Moscow. There must have been massiv celebrating when they won the world cup!

Time to turn in my plastic still life flutes and step up. The elegant ribboned box alone is a treasure.

Lunch was at the wonderfully 30s style CAFE DU PALAIS across from the opera house.

The interior is a mishmash if adulterated artworks and objet trouvé. The cafe is a favorite with the champagne winemakers. Note the old fan behind the statue. No AC here. The food is fine with a 36€ formule you get 3 courses and 2 glasses 🥂 of Champers.

A boater hat is exactly the right attire for Cafe du Palais.

You can not visit Reims without stopping in the cathedral. All the kings of France were coronated here darlings.

Besides its a cool refuge from the blasting heat outside.

Back on the TGV (with AC ) I made color studies from a rose window postcard.

I asked for an empty TAITTINGER Brut reserve bottle for my still lives but they insisted on giving me their top of the line vintage COMTES DE CHAMPAGNE Rosé bottle (around 170€). La creme de la creme..

Lots of Champagne envelope fillers are waiting if you buy a bottle green watercolor dear PBers. What a lovely day trip! I highly recommend REIMS.Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast. If you'd like to receive Parisbreakfast letters, maps and Champagne in your mailbox, look in my Etsy shop.

I don't want Summer to end 🥂🍾.

Champagne Days

Yesterday K & S said...you've had the coolest jobs! You ain't seen nothin' Sweetie Darling.

Paul Bocuse, Champagne Mumm's spokes person,
suggested I do some artwork for them and made introductions.
They gave me a test assignment: Come up with a big group drawing of tons of celebrities drinking Mumm that they could gift to all their employees.
Can you spot Kate Moss? And there's one of the Seagrams brothers embracing the big bottle. Please note everyone is holding their glass by the STEM. *Never hold a champagne glass by the "bowl". You must not warm up the bubbles.

That group drawing led to a portrait promotion program. They thought I should paint the portraits directly onto the Mumm bottles?
I imagined a sea of Mumm jeroboams in my living room. The last minute I dreamed up the idea to print their label design on my watercolor paper and I ended up with just stacks of nice neatly printed Champagne labels

One of the perks of this career was I got to stay at the Mumm mansion in Reims.
 

The countryside in Champagne is magnificent and there's a new fast train from Paris that gets you there in an hour. Don't miss it!

I got to stay a week in Verzy at Veuve Clicquot's country estate.
It was just me and a refrigerator full of jeroboams.
They said, "Help yourself" Right! :))

Someone did pop in to deliver a tray of croissants and coffee ☕️ 🥐 in the morning. The rest of the time I communed with the grapevines. They still use straw baskets to pick the grapes in Champagne.

There's a lot of partying in the Champagne Biz. These pourers are dressed up as old fashioned "cellar men". They used to turn the resting bottles.

They're fun to sketch. This is not me embracing the big bottle, that's my French boss at Mumm.

This is me partying at the Chelsea Arts Club Belle Epoche Ball held at London's Albert Hall... Well there is a Champagne bottle in the picture. We had to show up outfitted from Degas and Lautrec paintings. I chose a Degas dancer. 

Roger Terry, the club concierge, told me,

"If you add one more satin bow to that outfit, you will look like a dog's dinner."

Don't you just love the Brits!

Pass the Bolly Sweetie Darling!

Biscuits Fossier

Fossier Champagne Biscuits, watercolor,

Besides Champagne and chocolate Bouchons, Reims is famous for their pink biscuits.

Maison Fossier has been making them since 1756! It's their 250th anniversary and they're just down the street from the chocolate Bouchon shop on 25, cours Jean-Baptiste Langlet.

Made for dipping in champagne or wine and for cooking, the divine biscuit is unique. A pink crunchy biscuit, a delicate meringue which melts in the mouth, a light macaron. You can even make a Charlotte with them.

They says their biscuits are "pink for sweetness, powdered for nobility and crunchy for pleasure".

Fossier made a house of pink biscuits for their anniversary celebration.

Another example of splendid architecture is Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral.  Don't miss Reims and Bonne Annee 2007!
Remember Reims rhymes with "chance" if you hit the "n" lightly.