Like most years the cellars of Piet's wine and dine society 'Het Derde Glas' were running low on Champagne after the festive season. To avoid a potential crisis a short trip was planned to restock, and to try several new wine producers in the Champagne region. In the end, after several late changes, everybody could join, and we set out with two cars and five people from Utrecht and The Hague early Friday morning. We joined forces in southern Belgium, and continued to the first tasting together, at Beaudouin Nirel, in Nogent L'Abesse, due east of Reims. The host had just taken over from his parents, and struggled to make a lasting impression, especially after he sold us several bottles he didn't have in stock.
We drove south into the nearby Montagne de Reims, to the village of Villers-Marmery and the tiny winery of Noel Bazin. The son and his parents only produce 20,000 bottles a year, which is a minute quantity for this region. We had an entertaining discussion in their living room, and left with a good amount of bottles, driving a short distance further east. In Rilly la Montagne (another classic Champagne village) we stopped at Couvreur-Philippart, who received us in a small, cluttered tasting room. The champagne was almost at freezing temperatures, so we had some doubts about the quality, but we still made a reasonable purchase.
On to Epernay, the town in the heart of the Champagne, where we stayed overnight. Along the famous Avenue de Champagne we drank an aperitif at Michel Gonet (and bought some more bottles), which was followed by dinner in La Grillade Gourmande. In the morning the planned detox walk was only attended by two of us (guess who?); a pleasant stroll through the vineyards above Epernay. After breakfast we had a final champagne visit at Jean Milan in Oger, who had a commercialised set-up, however, this was compensated by a relaxed outside tasting in the morning sunshine.
A long drive followed to Kruisem in Belgium, just south of Gent. On the way Sybren was picked up from a railway station, and we attended a large tasting event organised by Thienpont, one of the major wine importers in Belgium. They had invited several wineries to promote their own wine. There was a lot of variety, but after more than twenty different wines you generally start loosing the plot. Luckily we were still sharp enough to sort and re-pack the bottles... In the evening we had an excellent dinner at Lof, in the centre of Gent. The next morning we drove home, with enough Champagne to last to year end, we hope!
