Being Head of Wine is hard work, but it certainly has it’s perks. In November I was invited to visit the Louis Roederer champagne house in Reims with a small group of other clients of MMD who are the UK importer. We’ve had Louis Roederer as our house champagne at the Chesil for a few years now, so it was wonderful to be able to follow the journey from vine to wine.

We were met at the station in Reims by Aida, the knowledgeable and personable Roederer rep who was to look after us for the next 24hrs. She showed us around the vineyard and gave us the lowdown on the organic farming practices and historic classification of Roederer’s vines, then treated us to our first glass of Roederer Collection 244 of the trip at their beautiful Maison in the centre of Reims. We were blown away by the décor, and the house itself was absolutely stunning.

There was no time to rest though, as we were whisked off to Au Piano des Chefs, an atelier in the town to cook our own dinner and enjoy (quite a bit more) champagne.

The champagne was delicious and paired beautifully with our main course of veal & risotto, and dessert of caramelised fruits with sesame snap tuilles and tonka bean cream. It was the first time I had ever attempted any kind of pastry work, but I think our sesame snap tuilles turned out rather well, even if I do say so myself. Our host Eric Geoffroy was hilarious and we had a fab time cooking, drinking, laughing, chatting and eating. We loved the fresh red fruits in the rose, and the toasty brioche in the vintage blanc de blancs.

I’d love to say we got an early night in preparation for another big day, but that would be a lie. We went to a nice little bar for a cold pint to ‘relax after all our hard work’ at dinner – nevertheless we were all up bright-eyed and bushy tailed though the next morning, ready for a tour around the first Roederer family home, cellars, and 10am masterclass on the champagne we had been drinking last night. Understanding the differences between the cuvees, and the time, passion and precision that goes into it.

We learnt so much about the history of the family, including the matriarch Camille Olry-Roederer (in and of herself a total Tour de Force) who kept the business afloat during the German occupation in WW2 and supported her staff by deceiving the occupying forces in order to provide extra sugar rations for the Roederer workers. She also launched the Blanc de Blancs Cuvee as a private selection for her to enjoy with family and friends – what a woman!

Our second historical revelation was the connection between the Roederer family and Tsar Alexander 2nd, leading to the creation of the iconic Cristal bottle shape. Normal champagne bottles have the large dimple in the bottom of the bottle, which is missing in Cristal. Tsar Alexander faced many assassination attempts during his lifetime, and so the flat bottomed, clear glass Cristal bottles meant that nobody could hide any poisons or other nasties in the bottle. There is a bust of Tsar Alexander in the main foyer, under a stunning ceiling display made from Cristal bottles, allowing the sunlight to stream through and illuminate the room – a touching tribute to the legacy of a historic icon.

After this we were in for a real treat. We were driven over to enjoy lunch at the CEO Frédéric Rouzaud’s private residence (the second Roederer family home) with Thierry Wallaert, the Export Director. When I say this place was unbelievable, I mean it – even suited and booted I felt very inadequately dressed. Artwork and masterpieces adorned the walls, and the furniture and fireplaces were like something from Downtown Abbey.

Needless to say we enjoyed some more Louis Roederer Collection 244 with our canapes before moving into the dining room for the serious stuff.

We enjoyed amazingly in-depth conversation about the future of Champagne and specifically Roederer, the hard-to-navigate export market, and the French protests on the borders with Spain over an outstanding 4 course lunch with impeccable silver service.

Our starter of Monkfish with a white bean cassole was enjoyed with ’93 vintage Cristal which had the perfect balance between tertiary flavours, nuttiness and sublime freshness and acidity. Next up was veal with a wild mushroom risotto and a veal jus, paired with Louis Roederer rose ’16 vintage. This was a sublime match, and the depth of flavour in the veal jus matched the complexity in the rose.

A brief cheesy interlude of local fromage, paired with Chateau de Pez 2018 (a Bordeaux estate in St Esteph also owned by Louis Roederer). Plump black and red fruits, some tobacco spice and earthiness coming through on the red, perfectly offset the creaminess and ripeness of the cheeses.

Dessert was a chocolate and hazelnut mousse-cake with an almond crème anglaise paired with Ramos Pinto 20yr old Tawny Port (Roederer also own this port producer in Portugal). Absolutely gorgeous. Nutty, rich, fruity yet savoury port, and a super decadent dessert. My stomach is growling at me just thinking about these dishes and wines.

If you’re thinking we got to relax and digest after all that food and wine, you’d be wrong. We each were graciously given a bottle of the 2016 vintage Louis Roederer to take away with us before being herded into the van for a guided tour around the Cathedral Notre Dame de Reims, which remains one of the most important religious buildings in France.

I am a massive history nerd, so I was in my element learning about the founding of France, the coronation of kings, miraculous holy oils and in more recent times, the restoration works being carried out to preserve this awesome monument. It was here that St. Remi baptized Clovis I in 496AD, making him the first Christian king of France, firmly stamping the beginning of the great Christian history of the country, which was then called the “Eldest Daughter of the Church.”

Although not of any real Champagne drinking significance, I just loved how smug this angel looks next to their rather forlorn friend. This glorious angel has witnessed the coronation of all 31 kings of France (except Henry IV) from 13th- 19th C – the last coronation being that of Charles 10th in 1825. In particular, the statue witnessed the coronation of King Charles 7th, which represents the culmination of the epic of Joan of Arc in July 1429, effectively reversing the fate of the 100yrs war.

Although badly damaged by decapitation during a German bombing raid in 1914, they had enough photographs as well as a plaster cast, to restore the angels face in 1926, but unfortunately not enough information to restore their hand.

If those stones could tell stories of all the things they’ve seen, I’d crack out the champagne and popcorn and sit for eternity.

All-in-all this whistlestop tour of Reims was incomparable. I learnt so much I thought my head was going to explode and I drank so many bubbles my blood was basically champagne by the end. I loved that we got to experience a little history as well as trying the wine, and the hands-on evening at Au Piano de Chefs was just brilliant. Louis Roederer have set the bar incredibly high for other Champagne houses in terms of hospitality, knowledge and passion. I think I might need to revisit next year though just to recap some of the facts we were told……..