A visit to Moët & Chandon

Being a maker of things, I love learning about how stuff is made. Something that I find very fascinating and mysterious is alcohol, wine and champagne most of all, so I was incredibly excited to take a day trip from Paris to the Champagne region to do a tour of the Moët & Chandon cellars. After six months of studying in France last year, I had still never done a real wine tour in country, and I have to say I had been missing out!

The company has miles and miles of strangely beautiful caves where champagne is stored during all parts of the process, and we learned a ton. Did you know that regular bottles of Moët never have a year on them? It's because almost every bottle has a mix of juices blended together from the current harvest and past years' reserves to create the perfect taste — the only bottles that have years on them are vintages, from years when the harvest yields such a perfectly balanced flavor that it doesn't need to be blended. Dom Perignon, which is widely considered to be the most exclusive champagne in the world, is actually so exclusive because it is only released as a vintage, so it's not even consistently available!

Much like knitting, bookbinding, and every other craft that I know anything about, creating the perfect champagne isn’t a science, it’s an art. It’s inexact at times, and everything ultimately depends on the instinct of the maker. 

The building is also gorgeously outfitted with decor that speaks of old world luxury. The most opulent piece? This chandelier made entirely of 18th-century Baccarat flutes.

Of course, the tour wouldn't have been complete without a tasting — we had one glass each of a blond demi-sec and a rosé. Both were delicious, but the blond was the uncontested favorite.

Overall, it was a wonderful day and so nice to see more of my beautiful adopted country. There's so much to do in the city, but to stop rushing from site to site and soak up an authentic part of French industry and culture can be even more valuable. If you ever have the opportunity to go, jump on it!