The Great Champagne Tour – G.H.Martel & Veuve Clicquot
Continuing on from day 2s events at Lanson and Pommery Champagne houses in Reims, the first port of call of the day was a slightly less early tasting at G.H Martel & Co for 11:30 followed by Veuve Clicquot later on.
G.H.Martel & Co Cellar Tour
These guys are a slightly smaller house in the UK, although fairly big in the US. Their main production has now moved entirely to Epernay, where the house started in 1869, as they outgrew their Reims cellars and needed more space again to mature and produce their Champagne.
Despite this, their UNESCO Reims Crayeres are well worth the visit (and the tasting of course). Oozing history, the chalky white walls are lined with a unique collection of typical champenois tools and machinery for planting, maintaining the land and harvesting. One particularly amazing part of the cellar was a small chimney with little footholds knocked into the sides which the workers used to climb/descend to get to work each day!
The Cellar is overall quite small, as I’ve already suggested, but it was one of my favourite for its medieval craft and history. Their little Maison is also nicely tucked away and gives you a real impression that you are entering a quality, artisanal Champagne producer, and that you they are.
The Martel Tasting
I opted again for the NV tour to allow myself to try the classics of their range. It included their Rose and a nice bonus Extra Brut from Ernest Rapenau, a family-owned Champagne house who have a major stake in Martel. Ernest’s grandson, Christophe, is the current cellar master of both houses.
The Martel Rose is Pinot Noir led leading to a brighter pink than some other Rose Champagnes. It was fresh and floral in aroma with even a tropical hint of mandarin. To taste I was very impressed as red berries flood the palate along with tangy sweet spice and brioche goodness. It is a lively and complex Rose that’s well worth looking out for and getting back into UK supermarkets.
My favourite was the Rapeneau surprise however, boasting ripe stone and tropical fruit flavours with a nice streak of spice to bring complexity. A bit of minerality and autolytic yeast notes temper the balance nicely too. And for only 30 euros a bottle, I thought this was an exceptional bargain.
Veuve Clicquot Cellar Tour
Veuve isn’t too far at all from Martel, and you can pop into the Saint-Remi Basilica if you have some time to kill. You can also squeeze a visit to Taittinger if you fancy it as it is just across the road.
You can tell its going to be a big tour as soon as you walk up the road towards it as the branding lines the way towards the bar and Maison complex. A bar that in the sun will undoubtedly beckon you after the tour!
As you plunge into the depths of the 24km large UNESCO cellars, you follow a Veuve label hued lighting scheme down the stairs. You get the interesting history on Madame Clicquot, how as a widow she overtook the company and transformed the industry with advances in the making process (riddling racks and blending red wine to create rose for example) and even conquering the imperial Russian courts.
Of course, you’ll hear about the production process, but by this point I certainly didn’t need to hear another rendition of the same process so could enjoy time taking the cellar in and admiring the high-tech gyropalettes on display which are used to automate the riddling stage.
The crayeres have all the majesty again of a UNESCO site and ooze history but in a grander way than Martel earlier, as befits the sizes of the two houses. A number of the crayeres have been named after long-serving workers, many of whom had spent over 40 years there, who get the benefit of being able to use their own crayere for private functions.
And whilst you are learning all about the house, you can’t miss the millions of reserve wines lying in the darkness at every turn. There was even a fun room playing a film going through the seasons that released the scents of each of the main grape varieties for you to experience.
The Veuve Clicquot Tasting
The tour I picked just had the tasting of the classic Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut, but, what they don’t let you know beforehand is it is very special indeed. Whilst similar to the usual one we see, the Champagne for their cellar tasting is only matured in magnums and not consumed outside of their cellar where it spends a bit longer ageing than the usual stuff. On top of that, the tasing takes place in one of the huge crayeres which was very good to experience.
And as I said, the Veuve terrace bar was too good to resist in the sunshine. I opted for a glass of the Veuve Clicquot Extra Brut Extra Old which is worth a mention. It’s a non-vintage blend exclusively of reserve wines, with he most recent edition stretching back to the 1996 harvest. This is a lovely Champagne for the connoisseurs. My partner opted for the Veuve Clicquot NV Rose, which for anyone who hasn’t tried it, is a richer style with red fruit depths that go beyond many Champagne Roses.
Shop Veuve Clicquot
This was the final tour in Reims before we moved off to Epernay to enjoy another 5 tours and even more bars. After all, you’ve got to taste as much as you can whilst you’re there!
Stay tuned