Back to Rilly-la-Montagne
Rilly-la-Montagne is my favourite village in Champagne. It hugs the northern slopes of the Montagne de Reims. It has a lovely church, Saint-Nicolas de Rilly-la-Montagne, whose oldest features, the nave and the steeple, date from the 12 century.
All French churches are constructed over centuries. Medieval technology meant that building was a slow process. And then churches and other buildings were always affected by wars, fires and natural disasters. Rilly also has a wonderful luxury hotel, the Château de Rilly (built around 1795), where I will stay after the summer holidays. The friendly staff allowed me to have a good look at the ground floor.
Last time I visited Rilly, a few months ago, there were no leaves on the vines. Now the vines are richly luxuriant with thick leaves and little bunches of grapes. In the photo you can see the development of the red colour of the grapes. Most of the grapes on the Montagne de Reims are pinot noir and meunier, both of which have red skins, but white juice.
Last time I walked from Rilly to Reims in a basically northerly direction. This time I walked directly east passing through the lovely villages of Chigny Les Roses and Ludes. The landscape was rolling hills in a fan-shape. It was nice to get some exercise galloping up and down the hills. It also offered wonderful vistas in all directions.
I met a wonderful man who was doing some pruning – see photo. Like most French vignerons, he was well aware of Australia’s wine industry, French investments therein, and young French kids going to Australia to work in the wine industry, and being reluctant to come back home.
I asked him about the main challenges the Champagne industry faces. He claimed that they have enormous difficulty finding staff. French people, especially young people, are not interested in working in the wine industry, even though French unemployment is over 7 percent. Manual labour is mainly done by Eastern Europeans from Poland, Bulgaria and more recently Ukraine. The many French people who are anti-migration need to better understand the contribution of migrants to their economy. And as to more technical work, lots of jobs remained unfilled.
Rilly is a perfect example of France. The only cafe in town will be closed for all of August, because the staff are going on holidays. The Château de Rilly will similarly be closed for the first half of August. In other words, it’s more important for the French to take holidays than to make money in the height of the European holiday season.
Vive la France!
Logistics
TGV fast train from Paris Gare de l’Est. Then little local train to Rilly-la-Montagne.