For Silent Sunday today I am sharing the photos we took during our visit of the
JL Charlemagne wine caves in Angouleme
yesterday. It was a fascinating tour where we learnt about the Champagne method that takes place within the caves, from the wine that arrives from many local vineyards, the fermentation process, the automated bottle turning and through to the corking and the labeling. We also got to sample and buy some lovely wine.
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| The entrance to the cave |
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| Where the process begins |
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| Some of the 400,000 bottles in the cave |
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| Some that had been there a while |
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| Within the limestone cave |
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| Automated labeling |
I had the pleasure and the honour to work in the Mumms' caves back in the 1970's, but my most remarkable event here was later in life when I revisited the place at the town/village of Ay where I signed the visitor's book on the last line of a page, only to see that the signature above mine was Lloyd George, British PM.......!
ReplyDeleteThe best place (highly recommended) are the storage areas for Hennessy Cognac - go through those doors, and the odour that hits you is PARADISE and - guess what - the highest quality of Cognac that exists (google it) is from Hennessy and is called..? Well, PARADIS - of course! http://www.amazon.com/DIAGEO-Hennessy-Cognac-Paradis-750ML/dp/B005HQTZOO
Thanks Ian, we have done a small tour of a Cognac house, but not one of the big names. Maybe we should get to Hennessy this summer, we are only about an hour from Cognac.
DeleteInteresting I have never visited a wine cave.
ReplyDeleteThanks Esme. Although we have bought wine here before this is the first time we have toured their cave, and it is the first champagne cave we've seen too.
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