Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [76]
L’Ecume du Jour.
¢ | FRENCH | Half community-run café, half art gallery (and fair-trade products boutique), this is a great place to stop for a cool drink or a simple meal. Near the train station, the spot has a friendly, bohemian vibe. After enjoying your repas on the pretty mosaic tiled tables, head past the outdoor patio to the covered barn for the ever-changing art exhibitions. | 5 rue du Faubourg St-Jacques | 60000 | 03–44–02–07–37 | www.ecumedujour.org | No credit cards | Closed Sun. and Mon.
Chenal Hotel.
$–$$ | There are few hotels in central Beauvais and this four-square street-corner establishment is perhaps the most convenient of them, close to the train station, a 10-minute walk from the cathedral, and served by a shuttle bus from the Beauvais airport. Rooms are light and soberly decorated, if on the small side. Pros: free Wi-Fi; convenient location. Cons: small rooms; lacks charm. | 63 bd. Général-de-Gaulle | 60000 | 03–44–06–04–60 | chenalhotel.fr | 29 rooms | In-room: no a/c, Wi-Fi. In-hotel: bar, parking (paid), some pets allowed | AE, DC, MC, V | BP.
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Champagne Uncorked
CHAMPAGNE UNCORKED
Dom Pierre Pérignon was the first to discover the secret of Champagne’s production by combining the still wines of the region and storing the beverage in bottles. Today, the world’s most famous sparkling wine comes from the very same vineyards, along the towering Marne Valley between Épernay and Château-Thierry and on the slopes of the Montagne de Reims between Épernay and Reims.
When you take a Champagne tasting tour, you won’t be at the vineyards—it’s all done inside the various houses, miles away from where the grapes are grown. Champagne firms—Veuve-Clicquot, Mumm, Pommery, Taittinger, and others—welcome travelers into their chalky, mazelike cellars. Most of the big houses give tours of their caves (cellars). The quality of the tours is inconsistent, ranging from hilarious to despairingly tedious, though a glass of Champagne at the end makes even the most mediocre worth it (some would say). On the tours, you’ll discover that Champagne is not made so differently from the way the Dom did it three centuries ago.
BUBBLY BASICS
All About Grapes
Three types of grape are used to make Champagne: pinot noir, chardonnay, and pinot meunier. The two pinots, which account for 75% of production, are black grapes with white juice. Rosé Champagne is made either by leaving pinot noir juice in contact with the grape skins just long enough to turn it pink, or by mixing local red wine with Champagne prior to bottling. Blanc de Blancs is Champagne made exclusively from white grapes. Blanc de Noirs is made exclusively from black grapes.
How Sweet it is
The amount of residual sugar determines the category—ranging from Demi-Sec (literally half-dry, actually sweet) with 33–55 grams of residual sugar per liter, to Extra-Brut (very dry) at less than 6 grams of residual sugar per liter. Classifications in between include Sec at 17 to 35 grams, Extra Dry at 12–20 grams, and Brut, under 15 grams.
Vintage vs. Nonvintage
Vintage Champagne is named for a specific year, on the premise that the grapes harvested in that year were of extraordinary quality to produce a Champagne by themselves without being blended with wine from other years. Cuvées de Prestige are the finest and most expensive Champagnes that a firm has to offer.
What You’ll Pay
Champagne relentlessly markets itself as a luxury product—the sippable equivalent of perfume and haute couture—so it’s no surprise that two of the top Champagne brands, Krug and Dom Pérignon, are owned by a luxury goods conglomerate (Louis Vuitton-Moët Hennessy). Sure, at small local producers, or in giant French hypermarkets, you can find a bottle of nonvintage bubbly for $15. But it’s more likely to be nearer $40 and, if you fancy something special—say a bottle of vintage Dom Perignon Rose—be prepared to fork