I'm doing my level best to reduce the number of bottles - but they keep adding to the total each year. Epernay is known as the "entrpôt" of champagne. Last year the town and surrounding area was granted UNESCO World Heritage status for it's history and development of a world-renowned and high class product. The Avenue de Champagne is a beautiful road - we walk the length and back most evenings before going to bed. It's lined with many famous champagne houses. Moêt & Chandon (where Dany worked for 43 years and which we can see from our window), Castellane, Mercier, Perrier-Jouët, Bergere, Esterlin and more ..... Those 200,000 bottles ares stored in deep, cool caves below the champagne houses and spreading underneath the town. There are over 60 miles of chalk caves all at a natural temperature of 11°C. Here's a photo of the Avenue .... I
Wow, worse places to be, eh? I guess you know where to go when you want a bottle of champagne. I only drink it at New Years, but it seems like I should drink more of it, because it is fairly low in calories compared to other types of alcohol. I think we could take advantage of some of these types of champagnes and drink more of it. Some like Moet, are fairly expensive over here though.
@Patsy Faye and @K E Gordon - yes, I am lucky to live in Epernay. It was my daughter, Sorrel, who discovered it for me. She moved from St Tropez to Paris and we found the distance between the capital and Provence prohibited regular visits. I decided to move north - but I didn't want to live in a city. Then she was on a weekend trip with a friend who lives in Reims, the nearest city to Epernay. They visited Epernay and KABOOM - she called me and told me that she'd found the perfect place for me. It suits me perfectly - for one thing, it's only 40 minutes by train to the center of Paris, the train goes to the Gare de l'Est - 5 minutes walk from Sorrel's bijou Paris pad (it's tiny and très, très cher!!) - and on Saturdays it's only 15€ return (instead of the usual 48€ return). The population is about 24,000 and well spread out. There's a lively center, a great library, a cinema and a theatre. Plus lots of cafés and bars and a fresh food market twice a week. Everything I need is in walking distance so I sold my car and now I just have my motorbike (which is as much a hobby and lifestyle as a means of transport). I made great friends and fell in love. And there's the champagne - which we get at cost price as part of Dany's retirement. In fact, he gets 36 bottles a year completely free. I'm not a huge drinker, one or two glasses is enough for me and then only maybe twice a week if that. I do love him for more than the champagne though !!!!! .............................. (He also gets free smoked salmon and oysters at Christmas ...)
It looks like the perfect mix of city and country. It sounds as if you've found the perfect place to live. It looks very peaceful. I miss sidewalks, we don't have them here, although we do have the country atmosphere and also plenty of water.
It is perfect for me. There are some people who moved away when they retired having lived here all their working lives. No place is perfect for everybody I suppose. No sidewalks! ( called "pavements" in the UK and "trottoirs" here in France .... but starnge to say there is a Rue de Pavements here in Epernay.) How do you get around safely on foot if there are no sidewalks?
This is the first time I've heard that champagne is kept in a sort of cave. From what I understand in this thread, that avenue in the photo has an underground wine cellar. Maybe it is the temperature that the champagne maker is after because I have read in an article that wines need constant or stable temperature for their distillation (pardon me if the term is incorrect). I will try to remember that town's name - Epernay - so in case I hit a bonanza then I can visit that.
What a splendid place in which to live! The population size is perfect; it is big enough in which to be anonymous and small enough to see people you know when shopping. What does your husband do to get such benefits and free champagne and smoked oysters? I would love to live where you are. Enjoy it!
Let me know when that bonanza arrives and you visit Epernay @Corie Henson and I'll take you on a tour of the caves. @Texas Beth - my husband worked in the caves of Moët & Chandon from age 14 until he retired at age 56. Forty-two years of employment is required for full state pension here in France. He was offered promotions to work in management over the years, but he loved caring for the champagne. At the end of his working life he was in charge of the cave that houses the millesime champagnes. They are champagnes made from harvests of exceptional quality and are know by their years - and are more expensive. Dany gets the champagne etc as part of his private retirement package with M&C who are super employers. The amount of freebies it varies depending on years of service and position within the company.
This light show takes place every summer - it is projected on the Hôtel de Ville on the Avenue de Champagne and draws tourists from all over the world. The theme varies each year. In the winter, about 2 weeks before Christmas there is another light and sound show, further along the Avenue which also draws huge crowds and is followed by a procession of decorated floats, musicians and mime artists all along the Avenue to a fireworks display. However, last December the fireworks were banned as it was only 4 weeks after the terrorism in Paris.
It's the phenols that do it! My daughter sent me this link today : Drinking Champagne Can ...... etc etc etc