Reims is the capital of the champagne region and doesn’t it show it.  It has a beautiful gothic style cathedral and the town centre is filled with Tudor style wooden housing / shops of which quite a few are leaning in various directions.  Reims was beautiful even in the rain and we had a lovely wander around the place.  I even managed to buy a new handbag from a little shop near the city centre and I don’t do non-food shopping in general.

From there we headed to Villers sous Chatallon based on the recommendation of a fellow MH’er.  The whole region is filled with vines and both large and small boutique champagne producers.  We went to Champagne J. Charpentier and the lady that showed us around was very helpful.  We started with a tasting of their various types of champagne which in itself was an education as I didn’t know that there are actually 3 grapes they use and depending on the mix then you get different qualities.  The 3 grapes are Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay.  Pinot Meunier turned out to be our favourite and we have come back 6 bottles heavier.  She then showed us around the manufacturing area which has just seen one of it’s busiest times since the harvest was just finished a few days before we were there.

After the wine tasting we waited an hour of so to let the effects wear off before heading to another aire nearby.  In the morning we walked and took some pictures and I have to admit to being awestruck at the awesome view and was very envious of some the houses overlooking the valley.