Epernay
Our next stop was Epernay the capital of the Champagne region and entirely dedicated to the production of Champagne. The cellars of Moet et Chandon, de Castellane and many others are in the centre of town.
We stayed in the private club 'Societe Nautique' which has pontoons to help make up funds. They offer a free tour for two to Castellane Cellars, a good bargain.
We had a great tour of the Castellane Champagne House walking along the tunnels carved out of the chalk under the town. They seem to go for kilometres.
The tour was very interesting. We got close up to all the strange goings on in the cellar. I am not sure of why all of this fluff stuff was over all the bottles.
After the tour we had a glass of very nice champagne.
Just after Epernay we pass the village of Ay which goes back to Roman times but is important as it is here in the 17th century the local wine growers began making a sparkling drink called the wine of Ay. In the 20th century this drink was renamed Champagne and conquered the world.
As we travel through France names of towns and villages add interest to our days. Some have names which would fill up the space on an envelope as they describe where the town is, above or below or near another town or the general history or attraction of the town, ie Rogny les Sept Ecluses , had seven ancient locks or ecluses to pass through the town, Moret sur Loing is on the Loing River, other names I have seen are St Felix de Reillac et Mortemart or Villiers Chemin et Mort les Estrelles. Pity the poor children learning to write their address. On the other side, there are towns called Ay, Gy, Ur, Vif and Vry, to name a few.
Along the way we pass a walled vinyard which has the appelation Clos because it is entirely surrounded by walls. I am not sure if this makes wine or Champagne tast better.
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