Taking advantage of Continental Airline's lastest airfare sale, my sweetie and I went off to visit Paris with a wonderful day in Champagne. We started off at Laurent Perrier after an amazing drive from Paris. Laurent Perrier has gone through a huge transformation in the last few decades, now it the most popular Champagne in Paris. They make arguably the best Rose Champagne of all large producers, granted it is expensive at $120 but worth it. Next stop, a house that is returning to Texas after many years, Champagne Ayala located in the little town of Ay. 

One of the details that make Champagne what it is are the chalk caves below the towns where they age all of their wines, for a minimum 15 months to decades. The town of Ay actually has more miles of Chalk caves than roads. So what makes Ayala so special is they are focusing on incredibly light and crisp styled champagnes with zero dosage. Zero dosage means that they do not add any sugar in the final step, so their wines are almost crystalline in their purity and delicacy. They will be available in our stores very soon. 

Our final stop was at the other end of the scale in richness, Bollinger. Bollinger is a very old House that has consistently made a full-bodied rich, 

bready style of Champagne that has always been a favorite of the British. If you ever need a Champagne to pair with your grilled steak this is the bottle for you. We currently carry in the store their Brut Non-Vintage and The Grand Anee 1997. In one of their oldest vineyards you can see a grape vine just budding out to begin producing grapes.

It is always amazing how close to the ground the vines are grown, this is mainly to help pull heat from the soils to help ripen the grapes. We finally got to see on our tour an old press that is really not that different than ones used today by many Champagne houses. One tip if you plan on making the trip either by car or train, make sure you plan in time for lunch as it is impossible to find lunch after 1:30pm. Cheers!