Autumn colours in Champagne
Ever since I launched this wine walking website, I have been inundated with interest by geriatric Anglo Saxons. Are you running a new business, can I come with you, they ask. In fact, wine walking is a private pleasure for me.
When Oskar, Brigitte and Michael visited me here in Paris, one of their first questions was, can you take me wine walking? So I relented, and today I took them to one of my favourite spots, the Montagne de Reims in Champagne, to see the autumn colours.
We caught the train to Rilly-la-Montagne, then walked to Chigny-les-Roses and onto Ludes. As you can see in the photos, the colours are beautiful.
Walking back, we bumped into two workers doing “pre-pruning”, something which is done as the leaves start falling off. A young lady from the Czech Republic and a Frenchman were doing this heavy job with electric clippers.
Our new friends had much to say. This is a great year for Champagne, with large quantities of high quality grapes. The large numbers of grapes still remaining on the vines, now more than two months after the harvest, is due to the decisions made on the quantity of juice required for this year’s market — in short, they have too many grapes this year. The vineyard where they work has equal proportions of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay grapes.
Walking back through Chigny-les-Roses we learnt from a local that today, 28 October, was Global Champagne Day. It is celebrated every year on the fourth Friday in October.
Unfortunately, our tight schedule meant that we could not stay for the festivities. But it is certainly on my calendar for next year.
Fortunately, we managed to catch a nice glass of champagne back at the cafe at Rilly-la-Montagne. A delightful way to finish a wonderful day’s walk.
At the end of the day, I asked Michael for his reaction to the autumn beauty of Champagne. In a word, “beguiling”, he said. For those of you, like me, who don’t know the precise meaning of this intriguing word, it is “charming or enchanting, often in a deceptive way”. Indeed, there may be no better way to describe the autumn colours on the Montagne de Reims, Champagne.