Champagne Ardenne - Reims And Troyes - Champagne Ardenne Hotels

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Champagne Ardenne - Reims And Troyes - Champagne Ardenne Hotels

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Champagne Ardenne

Well connected by motorway and just over 2 hours drive from Calais, it’s a fascinating and beautiful area steeped in history and legendary for a certain well known bubbly beverage. Raise your glass to Champagne-Ardenne! Champagne-Ardenne is a fascinating mix of the indoor and outdoor. It's an area of great natural beauty ancient forests, including the bizarre dwarf mutant beech trees above the village of Verzy, gently rolling hills, white chalk soil and miles and miles of tranquil lakes, rivers and waterways. An ideal place to visit if you enjoy angling. And you can savour the region's culinary delights too. You might want to try such specialties such as dandelion jam and the andouillette de Troyes, a tasty locally produced sausage.It's also an area steeped in history. The provincial capital of Reims boasts the impressive 13th century gothic Notre Dame cathedral where Charles VII was crowned with Joan of Arc by his side. Troyes also has an impressive past. At its heart is the old city where many medieval and Renaissance half timbered buildings still survive.

But there’s no escaping the biggest reason to visit the area, and that’s the drink that bears its name. Champagne vineyards carpet the hills with Aube department having 65 km² of vineyards alone and there are over 5,000 different producers. Take time to visit the Champagne museums, cellars and most importantly taste the fruits of the autumn harvest.

Strict French law has enshrined that it’s only champagne grown in certain areas and aged and bottled in specific ways that can truly call itself Champagne. There are over 5,000 separate Champagne houses in the region to cater for our needs. Most is produced by small scale vignerons, which are often family run and each comes with its own unique flavours, subtleties and character. And by good fortune, many of the Champagne houses open their doors for tasting so that you can fully appreciate the variety across the region as you travel the Champagne Trail. Find out more here.

Official Champagne-Ardenne website here

Champagne:

Each year over 272 million bottles of Champagne are produced
Over two thirds of them stay in France
The Mercier Champagne house has a 160,000 litre barrel. It took over twenty years to build
The pressure in a Champagne bottle can reach 6 atmospheres. One in every in 10,000 bottles explodes whilst fermenting.

More details at the P&O website.

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