Back to Hautvillers
My first visit to Hautvillers, back in winter, was a little disappointing. This historic village was lifeless, grey and dull. And of course the vines had no leaves or grapes.
By yesterday, Hautvillers had come to life. The vines were lush with leaves and grapes — the vendanges will take place soon.
And the centre of town and the Cafe de Hautvillers were buzzing with visitors, many from the Netherlands. I am obviously not the only one to have discovered the beauty of Hautvillers.
I tasted some wonderful wines at the Fedyk House of Champagne, a family enterprise. Cecile Bord of Fedyk presented the wine and shared insights into the company and the wines they produce. Fedyk was established in the 1920s by her husband’s grandfather who curiously came to France from Ukraine.
Cecile very kindly presented four champagnes: a brut, a blanc de blanc, a rose and “rose de saignee”, the latter being made by ancient traditional methods. I tasted and bought a bottle of the rose de saignee. Fedyk’s wines are made from all three permitted grape varieties — pinot meunier, pinot noir and chardonnay.
Hautvillers history takes us back to the origins of Champagne, being the home of the famous Dom Perignon, a Benedictine monk whose work in wine-making helped to develop champagne (as discussed in an earlier post).
Because of the region’s testimony to the development of champagne and unique agro-industrial system, the nearby vineyards, harvest huts, presses, and cellars were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015 as part of the Champagne hillsides, houses and cellars site.
One place to visit is the Abbaye Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers, the site of the grave of Dom Pérignon. And then you can meander through the winding streets, lined with typical Champenois houses, as well as stores selling wine and food, many fronted by traditional forged-iron shop signs.
After lunch and Champagne tasting, the inveterate wine walker could not wait to get back to the vine-covered hills, for his walk back to Epernay.
If there is one downside to this wine walk, it is that it takes a good hour of walking from Epernay train station through the neighbouring suburbs before you reach the vineyards. But this is a small price to pay for the beauty of the vine-covered hills on Hautvillers.
Logistics
Train from Paris Gare de l’Est to Epernay.