Oger, Champagne
La Côte des Blancs in Champagne is one of my very favourite wine walking areas. As the name implies, it is Champagne’s home for Chardonnay.
Looking up from the villages, you see a long and forested ridge above the vines. Looking back down from the ridge, you see vast waves of vineyards. So beautiful.
Today, I started in the village of Avize. The village itself is not beautiful. But its vineyards are classified as Grand Cru.
Avize is important, with many Champagne houses, and about 400 winegrowers who harvest 3,350 tons of grapes annually.
The walk from the Avize village up through the vineyards to the forested ridge was strenuous. My legs are still aching. But the view out across la Côte des Blancs is spectacular.
I walked along the forest line until the village of Oger, which is lovely and has a big square. There is a lovely looking restaurant, which was closed on account of August holidays.
Oger’s vineyards are also classified as Grand Cru in the Champagne vineyard classification.
The church in Oger is charming and ancient, and dedicated to Saint-Laurent, the patron of the area. It dates from the mid12th century. With vandalism being a widespread problem in France, the church was locked up.
In chatting with some of the vineyard workers, I learnt that the harvest (vendanges) will take place around 10 September, about a month later than 2022. This year has seen more rain and less hot weather.
The lady in the photo explained that some of her vines have a disease, so she was pruning them back a little to remove the infected parts. She owns the vines with her husband. But they no longer make their own Champagne. They sell their grapes to large Champagne houses. That’s much less complicated, she said.
So what was the highlight of the day?
I had arranged to meet my taxi in front of the Avize town hall, but in walking back to Avize, I got lost in the villages’ back streets. Fortunately, a couple of Ukrainian refugees (mother and son) saved me. They are the first Ukrainian refugees that I have met in France.
The son Ivan (Ukrainian for John!) walked out of his way to show me the Avize town hall (see photo). Ivan and his mother are happily living in Avize, learning French. They presently know very little French or English. But we managed to communicate, nevertheless.
I was very happy to find my taxi driver for the ride back to Epernay. Rosa is a French lady of Portuguese origin, who is full of interesting local gossip. For example, she pointed out a Chateau, which is now a hotel, and which is very popular among Russian tourists!.