Last week we had our first of three class field trips. We spent the day in the city Reims, part of the Champagne region. The day before we had a wine class explaining how this sparkling wine is produced. That Tuesday we woke up early to be at the bus at 7AM. Sleeping the whole 2.5 hours drive to Riems we arrived straight to the winery. It was a cold morning and we came inside a structure where the decorations were several bottles of champagne and a model of the ancient cathedral where it all begun.
The whole visit was very touristic structured which I didn’t particularly enjoyed. We went to the caves where they store all the bottles. While walking around the depths of the caves our guide threw some numbers and facts at our direction. What was nice is seeing the whole underground structure and how it developed through the years, from medieval times and the progression. The amount of bottles was impressive.
Also it was interesting to see the different poses of the bottles matching their stages of preparation.
It was finished after less then an hour. Turns out that this place is just the storage and we didn’t get to see any other part of the Champagne making process. That was disappointing, because I imagined us walking around the vineyards, seeing the pressing machines but instead it was very theoretical listening to the guide reciting how great they are. After learning about this perfection process, the tasting part of the day begun. We tasted two kinds. One is classic reserve brut (very dry) and the other is vintage rose. I could hardly feel the difference but it’s probably just me and my untrained pallet. After spending that much time listening and learning about the perfection of the making of this wine and the combination of flavors it really rises the expectations.
Then we took some pictures and we had about an hour free time to buy champagne products. Many people bought presents, I just settled for taking a picture of the prices:
Tasting and pictures:
Then to the more exciting part of the day: lunch and free time in the city. The best part of the day was lunch.
It was rather formal but I enjoyed it.. 
First we got up to take the starters. We were starving!
Then for the main course: sea-food in cream sauce with rice and ratatouille. I liked!
Then the cheese platter:
And for dessert several types of cakes with coffee:
Free time around the city was fun but there’s not much to see around Riems apart from the big cathedral with beautiful stained glass.
We also met Santa Clause.
