Day 3 continued

Time for lunch. Charles Heston has just built a purpose built tasting building and we had a superb lunch accompanied by the different wines. L'Agat - blanc de noirs - mostly the Pinot noir grape fruity and nutty.
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We bought a case of this as we all enjoyed it immensely. Next came "Selection Chardonnay" made from 100% Chardonnay grape. Most of the champagnes we tried were a mixture of Pinot, Meunier and Chardonnay grapes so the single grape vintages were always interesting. We accompanied these wines with a scallop seafood starter. For the guinea fowl (pintade) we tried the Coteau Champenois which is the red wine made from the second pressings of the grapes. It is a mixture of Pinot Noirs and Meuniers grapes and produced in oak barrels. It was a very agreeable light wine with hints of cherry and vanilla. it is said to be the red wine preferred by women but we were not totally convinced.

To accompany the dessert we had the "selection rose" which is produced from the oldest vines and can be served as an aperitif or with a fruity dessert, again according to the brochure -"pour le plus grand plaisir des femmes."  We did feel that there was a lot of sexism in the champagne brochures. Could it be that we women drink the majority of champagnes produced? We were not provided with those statistics. Finally the dessert itself was made from the special pink biscuits of the region and the custard had been doused in "Ratafia" a sweet wine made from the grape juice and alcohol.
By this time we were behind schedule and fairly mellow so after some frantic shop buying we jumped in the minibus (now best buddies with the two other group members - Sue had been exchanging insults with the poor solitary gentleman in our group -making for some lively lunch conversation in between the explanations and pouring of champagne).

The next stop was a boutique champagne house Roger Coulon. We did a perfunctory tour then straight into the wine tasting. Another two champagnes. The first one Anna described as having the taste of petrol or creosote but perhaps unfair after the amount we had already consumed. The second glass of a "non-dose" champagne i.e no sugar added was delicious so we purchased that one. I think I would always prefer the "non-dose". It is quite frightening when you realise how much sugar is added to some champagnes although they all insist that they keep it to a minimum.
As you can imagine the journey back to Reims was either going to be extremely quiet which Amanda said was normal or in our case lively. There were no "headages" at this stage - you had to be there! I tried to convince the girls that the best way to learn the language is through song so we sang "Meunier, tu dors.." but the language was too complex so back to "Un kilometre a pied" Please excuse all the lack of accents throughout. I don't know how to do them on my new Google Chromebook yet.) Luckily Reims appeared before we got through too many verses. Due to our purchases Amanda took us to the hotel door. We had a fantastic day and can highly recommend Bubbles Tours.
I decided on a swim, the others chilled and then we decided to explore some restaurant recommendations away from the main drag. We saw some very bizarre street performances and then wandered past the Veuve Cliquot champagne House and found Les Halles - a very good area to dine. We opted for the rose wine and the waitress countered "but it is not sunny" and shrugged her shoulders in typical French fashion. These mad English women (actually three Scots but hey we don't have the vote!)
We were sitting next to a bottle of Billycart Salmon champagne. Our guide had said that was her favourite champagne. It seemed like fate. It was our final glass in France. Nectar.
We travelled back the next day and finished off an amazing trip with fish and chips and a glass of Moet.
That is living. Champagne does not generally keep beyond three years before it starts losing its bubbles so make sure you don't keep your bottles too long.
Thank you girls for an amazing few days.