The Other Champagne
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The Seine flows by Champagne Devaux’s Manoir in the Aube département. RAISE A GLASS A RAISE The Other Champagne TRAVEL In an excerpt from The Seine, her new biography of France’s most famous river, Elaine Sciolino falls in love with the lesser-known bubbly-making region on its banks. Photographs by Céline Clanet MANY VISITORS TO France, even those Dom Pérignon, and Bollinger among Champagne topsoil must be light and who know the country well, know the them—are situated in the Marne Valley, not too rich, its subsoil chalky, its fields Seine only as the waterway that cuts Paris where most champagne is produced. But neither too vulnerable to frost nor too in half, that flows beneath the city’s pictur- one day my friend Jean-Claude Ribaut close to forests. Most designated vineyards esque bridges and offers vistas of its monu- told me about the underappreciated wines are on slopes that face south. The cham- ments. But the river is 483 miles long, only produced in the lush but less prosperous pagne industry now pulls in $6 billion a eight of which run through the French part of Champagne that borders the river year, and land designated to grow cham- capital. Its journey from a field of springs and invited me to discover them with him. pagne grapes can be 200 times more valu- in northeastern Burgundy to the English Champagne on the Seine? The phrase able than ordinary French farmland. Channel snakes through history, past pre- suggests sipping the pale, bubbly beverage Early one frigid January morning, historic encampments, ancient Roman from a crystal flute on a river cruise. But Ribaut and I went looking for a differ- towns, Viking strongholds, monastic Ribaut is one of France’s most respected ent kind of champagne in the Côte des abbeys, and World War II battlegrounds. food writers, and when he offers to take Bar, the main growing area of the Aube About 70 miles from its source, the Seine me along on a trip, I never say no. region. We traveled southeast from Paris DEPARTURES flows through the medieval city of Troyes Under French law, not just anyone by train to Troyes, then rented a car and and cuts a deep trench through the dry can produce champagne. The French headed several miles farther southeast to chalk plateau of champagne country. adhere to classifications and hierarchies the hamlet of Villeneuve. I used to think that “champagne coun- as their way of defining excellence. The In the Middle Ages, the Aube became try” meant the vast vineyards around the only sparkling wine in the world that can the wealthiest of the champagne regions. cities of Reims and Epernay, more than be labeled as authentic champagne must Its wines were sought by the area’s dukes an hour’s drive to the north of Troyes. The be made from grapes grown on officially and counts. There was easy transporta- 60 loftiest houses—Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart, designated plots of land in France. tion to the trade fairs of Troyes, where RAISE A GLASS A RAISE Clockwise from top: The dining room at Le Jardin, in Troyes, TRAVEL featuring the owner’s collection of vintage objets; a tasting in Essoyes, long home to Pierre- Auguste Renoir; the Fleury family vineyard. merchants from as far away as the Rhône champagne makers rely on sophisticated Aube’s champagnes can now be bought and Italy came to buy. Fortune did not blending, produce maswively, and evoke outside France. smile on the Aube, however. In 1911, the big big-name luxury. Champagnes from the A tasting tour of southern champagne houses to the north, in the Marne Valley, south have become desirable for their arti- houses does not rank on the scale of vis- excluded the Aube from champagne desig- sanal, creative feel. The southerners tend its to the huge houses up north, where nation. The vignerons—cultivators of wine to be small and independent, making champagne domaines are lined up one grapes—of the south rioted in protest. An champagne in their own way from grapes after another, and many are open only by unhappy compromise was reached: The they grow themselves. They focus on ter- appointments made months in advance. Aube champagne makers were granted roir, an elusive concept that involves soil, In the south you are more likely to find a designation as Basse-Champagne or sun, rain, region, and authenticity. yourself driving on little-traveled back Champagne 2e Zone—“Low Champagne” The Côte des Bar is geographically and roads to modest vineyards where you or “Champagne of Second Rank.” It took geologically much closer to Chardonnay- might get a private tour and a tasting con- another 16 years before the National producing Chablis than to the well-known ducted by the vignerons themselves. You Assembly passed a law that defined the champagne region of Reims and Epernay. might pass through the village of Celles- champagne regions according to growing Yet this is firmly a champagne-producing sur-Ource, whose entrance is marked by conditions like climate and topography, region, with the notable exception of Les an enormous sculpture of a champagne which allowed the vineyards of the south Riceys, famous for its still Rosé des Riceys. bottle made from empty bottles. Or you to qualify. Nevertheless, the second-class Emphasis on the terroir contributes to might stop in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, reputation clung to the region. No south- a purity in the Aube’s champagne output, where French president Charles de Gaulle ern vineyard received the highest desig- where single-variety, single-vintage, and spent the last years of his life and is bur- DEPARTURES nations of grand cru or premier cru. The single-vineyard champagnes are common. ied. Then there is Essoyes, where Pierre- Aube vignerons found it more profitable Out of about 84,000 acres of vine- Auguste Renoir lived for many years in to sell their grapes to the big production yards in the Champagne AOC, fewer a two-story stone house that was a short houses up north. than 20,000 are located in the Aube, rep- walk from the Ource River; a tour of the But in recent years, as the global thirst resenting just a fraction (less than 25 per- village and Renoir’s home includes a tast- for champagne has grown, the southern cent) of global production, according to ing of two champagnes out of ten choices vignerons have asserted themselves and the Comité Champagne trade associa- that have been matched with images of 62 created their own identity. The northern tion. A previously well-kept secret: The Renoir’s paintings. RAISE A GLASS A RAISE The Aube Essentials CHAMPAGNE PRODUCERS Or try the renovated There are some 70 cham- Maison de Rhodes next pagne houses in the Aube door, built on a foundation département, and most that dates back to the welcome visitors for private 12th century. Its rooms tastings by appointment. surround a delightful Once a year, toward the courtyard and a medieval end of July, the Champagne garden that offers a view Route Festival selects 20 of the cathedral. The pool or so specific domaines for area is an intimate public tastings. Here are relaxation spot. Rooms some of the best among from $210; maison de them. Their wines can be rhodes.com. purchased in the U.S. EAT An image of Renoir’s Devaux Bar-sur-Seine; Le Jardin, in Troyes, is painting Gabrielle et champagne-devaux.com. famous for its andouillette, Jean in Essoyes. TRAVEL a sausage made from pork Dosnon & Lepage intestine and stomach, Avirey- Lingey; and not suited for the champagne-dosnon.com. RIBAUT AND I FIRST stopped at the estate of Champagne unadventurous. Here it is Devaux, to meet its recently retired owner, Laurent Gil- Drappier Urville; prepared several ways— champagne-drappier.com. grilled, sautéed, poached let. Its Manoir is a large 18th-century manor house with a Fleury Courteron; with champagne. Fish tower, a dovecote, and a centuries-old well. A large tasting champagne-fleury.fr. enthusiasts should try the table with built-in metal spittoons dominates a futuris- Scottish salmon, which is Jacques Lassaigne tic white tasting room. As we sampled the vintages, Gil- served with a rich butter Montgueux; let explained how he came to own the domaine, which sauce or in a rum-pineapple montgueux .com. base. fb.com/lejardintroyes the Devaux family created in 1846: Jean-Pol Auguste Marie-Courtin Polisot; Devaux, the most recent family owner, had no children, 33-3/25-38-57-45. Le Valentino, also in and sold it to Gillet, his distributor, in 1987. The manor Troyes, is the place to go Olivier Horiot Les Riceys; house was included for free—almost; the condition was horiot.fr. for creative contemporary cuisine, predominantly that every year the Devaux would receive 60 bottles of Vouette & Sorbée featuring products of the champagne. We tasted several vintages. Among them Buxières-sur-Arce; sea. Its lobster is a local vouette-et-sorbee.com. was a Devaux Grande Réserve Brut made mostly with favorite, either in a salad Pinot Noir grapes. “Powerful, alive, eccentric,” said Rib- with pickled strawberries aut. “Very much an acquired taste.” It was stronger than STAY or draped with a giant The city of Troyes raviolo. The classic much of the champagne up north, with a distinctive min- (pronounced trwah) has the mille-feuille, updated with eral taste. This was not subtle, fruity elegance. best hotels in the region. chocolate and saffron Gillet had something special to show us. He led us cream, is a must for through the side door and along a path that cut through Stay at the Champ des dessert.