Voyage to Champagne
By R. Couri Hay
Royal Champagne Hotel
It’s a fast overnight flight to Paris, so once arrived, you are ready to jump into the luxury sedan sent by the Royal Champagne Hotel in Epernay. They whisk you to the romantic world of castles, châteaus, and vast vineyards that produce the magic that ultimately becomes Champagne. There are over 370 Champagne houses using grapes from 20,000 farmers in the region. On the 90-minute drive from Paris, you roll through picturesque villages and miles of grapevines to arrive at a sleek, modern, low-slung Frank Lloyd Wright-esque hotel perched on a hill with the best views in Epernay, the seat of Champagne. The view from the Hotel is like a Cézanne painting. The hamlet’s ecru and terracotta-colored roofs surrounded by endless vineyards is a perfect setting for this elegant 5-star hotel. My room is a minimalist wonder, spacious and chicly appointed in neutral tones, allowing the eyes to focus on the view through floor-to-ceiling windows leading onto the private balcony.
I arrived in late January, traditionally the quietest time of year, when the vineyards are asleep, but the Champagne still flows, and the area’s nine Michelin-star restaurants are mostly still open as the region is becoming a year-round destination. The hotel also possesses a world-class spa with both indoor and outdoor Olympic-length pools heated to resemble a dip in the warm waters of St. Barts. There’s a sauna and steam room and a wide variety of treatments. I had a massage, a facial, and a glass of Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blanc Champagne to put me in the perfect mood. The hotel has lovely restaurants and bars, including the one Michelin-star Le Royal, and a breakfast buffet that was nothing less than sublime. Dinner was also a treat, and the service was impeccable, both for the humans and dogs. Yes, I encountered two dogs, a brown Rhodesian Ridgeback and an adorable tri-color King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, who sat quietly at the table next to ours. Très Français, n’est-ce pas? royalchampagne.com
Cuisine Solutions’ International Sous Vide Day
I spent my first day at the celebration of International Sous Vide Day hosted by Cuisine Solutions, the world’s largest and most trusted producer of sous vide foods. The event, held at the picturesque Château Comtesse Lafond, also celebrated the 81st birthday of Dr. Bruno Goussault, the master of sous vide and the greatest scientific innovator of the technique. Guests included the company’s chairman, Stanislas Vilgrain, Chief Strategy Officer Chef Gerard Bertholon, and CMO Tom Donohoe, who surprised his girlfriend, Allison Sells, by asking her to marry him during the event with a diamond the size of the Ritz. She said yes, and no fewer than 14 Michelin-star chefs led the applause. Cuisine Solutions held concurrent sous vide celebrations in Washington, DC, and Bangkok, Thailand, as the company has a significant presence in North America and Asia, as well as in Europe. cuisinesolutions.com
Le Parc Les Crayères
On another night, I went to the very grand two-Michelin-star restaurant Le Parc Les Crayères. We had the truffle tasting menu, each course paired with the appropriate Champagne, including an
extraordinary bottle of Jacques Selosse V.O. that took us to the heavens. Needless to say, every course was celestial. Standouts were the roasted scallops with black truffle slices and the black truffle capellini. The chocolate cream, caramelized pecans and cherry confit with truffles were magnifique. It’s the only way, really! The restaurant is in the Domaine Les Crayères, a small hotel formerly the chateau of the De Polignac family, which had a long history in the French nobility. In 1775, Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac, became a favorite of the queen, Marie Antoinette, and subsequently spent years living at the Palace of Versailles. lescrayeres.com
Avenue de Champagne
A tour of the Champagne houses is de rigueur, but plan ahead, as these private tours book up quickly. The first thing you need to ask your driver to do is ride down Epernay’s famous Avenue de Champagne. Along the treelined road paved with bubbles, you’ll pass all the grand mansions of Champagne, including Dom Ruinart, Moet Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, and Krug, among many other houses whose vintages are superb but not as well known outside of France. Ask your concierge for a few ideas if you’re in the mood to be adventurous.
Champagne has a long history, going back to the 5th century, when the Romans planted vineyards in this region of northeastern France. The pinot noir grapes that thrived in this climate produced a pale, pinkish wine, far different from the lush reds from the southern Burgundy region. It was an accident of nature that created the bubbly we know and love today.
The cold winters in Champagne caused fermentation to halt and restart in the spring, releasing carbon dioxide trapped inside the bottles. The pressure from the gas often caused the bottles to explode, but those that survived contained bubbles, which was originally considered a flaw. In the 1600s, winemakers, like the Benedictine Monk Dom Pérignon, were still trying to rid their wines of the bubbles, but the sparkling versions of Champagne wines grew in popularity, eventually becoming a favorite among the French nobility. By the 19th century, winemakers had learned how to create bubbles deliberately, and advances in these methods by the house of Veuve Clicquot made the production of sparkling wine on a large scale feasible. Champagne houses blossomed in the 1800s, and the modern Champagne industry was born.
An equally hot newcomer this winter is another New York import, Cote, the Michelin-starred Haute Korean barbecue steakhouse that opened in the Design District in February. The finest wagyu beef, dry-aged on-site, is cooked on tabletop grills – smokeless, so your designer duds remain odor-free – and “steak and eggs” on the menu is filet mignon tartare topped with caviar. The most popular order is the $54-per-head butcher’s feast, and for high rollers, there’s a 10-course steak omakase for $165. For this location, Cote has added some Miami-only dishes, including a ceviche with Amberjack, snapper, and cobia. Guests have included American Rapper NAS, film producer Peter Bittenbender, and Seth Browarnik. Cotemiami.com (305) 434-4668
House of Pommery
If you can only visit one house, I suggest Pommery because they have the most extensive and dramatic chalk caves—twelve miles to be exact—almost 100 feet belowground, which serves to
ventilate the cellars. There is also a large and fun art installation throughout; a giant tree festooned with oversize fruit, an enormous glass box that blows a blizzard of feathers, giant screens of crashing waves, and another depicting a storm in a forest. The caves also have the original carved sculptures on the walls, some permanent, some temporary, the remnants of past art exhibits. Madame Pommery, who created the estate in 1868 after her husband’s passing, and her daughter, Louise, were art lovers and patrons of up-and-coming artists. The company continues to support artists today, hosting annual exhibits in the cellars.
Bring your walking shoes. I counted 121 steps to get down to the cave, but it’s worth it. Over 25 million bottles of Champagne are stored there. You read that right! Along the corridors, you’ll see the different sized bottles, including Piccolo, Salmanazar, Balthazar, Nebuchadnezzars and Goliath. At the end of the tour, which you can do on your own or with a private guide, which I suggest, there is a tasting of different vintages. Pace yourself. champagnepommery.com
House of Ruinart
Benedictine Monk Dom Thierry Ruinart, a native of Champagne, spent time in Paris in the 17th century, where young aristocrats were enthusiastic about an exciting new “wine with bubbles.” Dom Ruinart traveled widely but eventually returned to his home turf, working in the wine cellars alongside another monk, Dom Pérignon. Together, the two developed methods to improve sparkling wine production, solving the problem of bottles exploding under pressure during the fermentation process.
Dom Ruinart’s nephew, Nicolas Ruinart, took up his uncle’s interest in winemaking and, in 1729, founded Maison Ruinart, the world’s first Champagne house. Louis XV had just authorized the transport of wine in bottles rather than barrels; with the bubbles created inside bottles, this meant Ruinart’s “wine with bubbles” could be sold throughout France and beyond. In 1768 Ruinart acquired its Roman-era chalk quarries, and five miles of tunnels 125 feet below the city of Reims were hollowed out to store its bottles. Classified as a historical monument in 1931, these chalk “Crayères,” providing stable temperatures and perfect humidity levels, make for a fascinating tour. Their Blanc de Blanc pressing is one of my favorite champagnes. ruinart.com
House of Dom Pérignon
Dom Pierre Pérignon, the Benedictine monk whose efforts shaped the foundation of the champenoise method, making the production of sparkling wine commercially viable, is so revered that his statue stands at the entrance to Moët & Chandon’s headquarters in Epernay. When he died in 1715, he was buried in a part of the abbey cemetery traditionally reserved only for abbots as a show of respect.
The Pérignon House is in the former Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers on a hillside overlooking the Marne Valley. Originally founded in 650 AD, the Abbey was destroyed and rebuilt more than once through the centuries. The current building, where Pérignon lived and worked for 47 years, went up in the 16th century with the support of Catherine de Médicis. Who else would tell you these things? domperignon.com
House of Krug
The House of Krug was founded in 1843 by visionary Joseph Krug with the goal of blending wines from different years to consistently produce the very best. Krug’s singular approach has given it the reputation as the Haute Couture Champagne. Its signature Krug Grande Cuvee is aged for over 20 years. Housed in the family’s circa 1868 estate, the House of Krug features a collection of unique relics, a portrait of the founder, and his notebook containing his vision for the Grand Cuvee, which you will taste on your tour. A wall of 400 wines is where the cellar master auditions wines to be used in creating each year’s new edition, a music room contains the reserve wines, and the Krug Yurt, in the garden, is where you’ll experience immersive “echoes” tastings, where wine is paired with music. krug.com
Veuve Clicquot House & The Ghost
Founded in 1772 by trader Philippe Clicquot-Muiron and taken over in 1798 by his son, François. However, this renowned Champagne house truly blossomed with a woman at the helm. When François unexpectedly died, his wife, Barbe, took over the business, “Veuve” meaning “widow” in French, and proved to be a passionate winemaker, introducing innovations including the rosé Champagne recipe, which is used by most modern champagne houses today.
The house’s history is noteworthy. Their fifteen miles of chalk cellars date back to the Middle Ages. A faded Red Cross sign on the chalk walls is a reminder of when the cellars were used as an infirmary during World War I. One of 46 antique Veuve Clicquot bottles found in 2010 in the 19th-century Föglö wreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in Finland is on display. Madame Clicquot’s original house is still used by the company for visiting VIP guests. I encountered Barbe’s charming ghost when I slept in her bedroom. Have you ever? veuveclicquot.com
House of Taittinger
Pierre Taittinger bought a Champagne house in the 1930s and relaunched the business, offering elegant sparkling wines under the Taittinger name. The family’s third generation still runs the house today. The Taittinger House, which includes the ruins of the 13th-century Saint-Nicaise Abbey, destroyed during the French Revolution, and UNESCO-listed Roman-era chalk caves, is undergoing a 2-year renovation, so tastings have been detoured to the delightful Residence of the Counts of Champagne in Reims.
Owned by Taittinger, the 13th-century Gothic–style pile—Demeure des Comtes de Champagne in French—its name derives from the fact that it served as the residence of the Counts of Champagne when they came to Reims for the coronation of the kings of France at the Cathedral of Reims. After being partially destroyed during WW I, Taittinger bought it and restored it, and it is used for cultural events. taittinger.com
The Saint James Hotel: Paris
We drove back to Paris for a round of stylish parties. I checked into one of my favorite Parisian hotels, The Saint James, in the heart of the quiet, leafy 16th arrondissement and mere steps from the elegant Avenue Foch. This is Paris’s only chateau hotel boasting its own enchanting gardens. The Saint James just debuted a complete renovation encompassing all 50 guest rooms and suites, the addition of an indoor pool, and an expansion of the sublime Guerlain spa. The new swimming pool offers views of the distinctive Paris sky, and you can steam any tension away in the hammam and have a relaxing massage. The Saint James’s signature treatment, the Dédicace Guerlain, with 90 minutes of blissful body and facial treatments, is not to be missed.
Landscape architect Xavier de Chirac refreshed the lush gardens, and Michelin-starred chef Julien Dumas launched a new restaurant, Bellefeuille, at the hotel. French interior designer Laura Gonzalez retained all that was wonderful about the stately 19th-century former mansion and enhanced and livened its grandeur, mixing Versailles parquet flooring, geometric patterning, Japanese style panoramic wallpaper, Art Deco accents, frescoes by local craftsmen, and custom rugs, bien sûr. The whole feels like a swank English country estate with chic Parisian flair.
In the Bellefeuille restaurant, chef Julien Dumas whips up inventive, nature-inspired fare using seasonal and local ingredients. Indeed, fruits and vegetables come from The Saint James’s own organic gardens located just outside the city. Whatever Chef Dumas doesn’t make in-house is sourced from providers with similarly eco-responsible methods. The restaurant’s breads and pastries are from renowned chef/baker Julien Duboué, a former Daniel Boulud protégé.
St. James Paris: A Relais & Chateau & J.MAK.com Member
The Saint James has an interesting history. Built in 1892 at the behest of the widow of former French President Adolphe Thiers, the mansion was originally used to house a small number, only 15 at a time, of France’s most promising students on scholarships. The estate was the site of the first-ever hot-air balloon airfield, hence the bucolic 50,000-square-foot garden in the middle of Paris.
The Saint James’s Library Bar, where nowadays lunch, tea, and cocktails are served, is a real library dating from the property’s student housing era. The leather-bound books and comfy, deep armchairs are not just décor. In the 1980s, the building was turned into a private club, and in 1991 became a hotel, now part of the Relais & Châteaux collection. saint-james-paris.com
Avenue Montaigne
It made no sense to go to Paris and not shop, so we headed to the Avenue Montaigne and directly to Dior. Although you enter through the same discreet door that was once a small and tres chic boutique, the emporium is now an entire block of dreams. Men’s clothes, women’s clothes, baby clothes, jewelry, and homeware. A Dior Mall.
The Ritz, Dior, Balenciaga, Yayoi Kusama & Louis Vuitton
I crossed the street to have tea at the Plaza Athénée, another of my favorite Paris hotels. Once fortified with tea and pastries, we headed to Louis Vuitton, which is as much an art installation as a store. Yayoi Kusama’s trademark “silver balls” bedeck the outside, and once inside, it’s an Infinity mirror of red and white dots that festoon the entire collection. Tres chic. I hit the Balenciaga store and bought an oversized denim jacket emblazoned with black beads before heading to the brand’s haute couture shop, where I picked out a black blazer with the sleeves rolling well past my fingers from the 2023 runway show. Afterward, we headed to the Ritz Bar for drinks. balenciaga.com