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24 hours in REIMS Champagne Janine Marsh visits the effervescent city where the Kings of France were once crowned but where Champagne now rules! Medieval Reims, the capital of Champagne, is the home to many of the big-name producers of the world’s favourite sparkling alcohol – champagne. So if you only have 24 hours in this sparkling city, the one thing you must do is visit a cellar for a tasting. There’s tons of choice with around 155 miles of cellars in Reims, and everyone has their favourite maison de Champagne. I love the cathedral-like Ruinart cellars on the outskirts of the city, the oldest Champagne house still working. Then there’s Vranken-Pommery with its 11 miles of cellars including galleries carved out of the chalk by the Romans. Taitinger (their cellar tour will reopen Summer 2024), Lanson, Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin and GH Martel, and several more. Some are by appointment only, most are closed on Sundays but if that’s the day you’re there, GH Mumm, a 15-minute walk from the city centre, offer cellar tours, a fascinating museum, and tastings from 10am to 5.30pm. They keep a staggering 35 million bottles of Cordon Rouge and other labels underneath their headquarters in the Rue du Champ-de-Mars. Champagne is almost a religion here. I reckon you could stop just about anyone in the street, a man walking a dog, a couple out for a stroll, a woman on her way to the market with a trolley, and they would all have an opinion about Champagne - the best producer, whether it should be Brut or not, Blanc de Noirs or Blanc de Blancs. But, I recommend you head to the tourist office for heaps of information on Champagne visits and everything else in Reims. You’ll find details of cellar visit times and a variety of tours (including tours in English), on the Tourist Office website at the end of the article. All those bubbles are bound to make you feel a bit peckish and since Reims is a gastronomic city, you won’t find it hard to find somewhere scrumptious. The perfect lunch for me is at Ratafia Le Bistrot des Anges where the locals go, not posh fare but delicious hearty food like ‘bangers and mash’, ‘fish and chips’- and they don’t sound very French, but I promise you, they go perfectly with a glass of chilled Champagne! And restaurant la Grand Georgette, opposite Reims Cathedral offers truly excellent food with a classic menu that’s also innovative – the King crab with asparagus cream and yuzu foam is mouth-wateringly delicious. Whatever you do don’t miss the Ratafia de Champagne, a rich liqueur dripped into your glass via a giant pipette from a huge bottle, it’s pure theatre, and utterly delectable. There’s plenty to do in the town which is small enough to wander, though there’s an excellent tram service if you want to save time, and plenty of bike lanes for those who fancy cycling the city streets and even out into the surrounding countryside. Reims features a mix of architectural styles from 36 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 37
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