No other tipple carries the same air of sophistication or association with celebration as Champagne. For 22 years, this bubble-infused elixir has accompanied many a memorable moment and major milestones of my adult life.
There are many quality producers of the South African version, Methode Cap Classique or MCC for short, yet there’s something to be said about drinking the real thing at its place of provenance.
Spending the summer in England, I had to pinch myself to remember that France was a mere hop across the Channel. With my coveted Schengen visa in hand, I eagerly joined two friends on a journey to taste our way through the noble république. Paris is an easy hour’s flight from London or 24 minutes on the fast train. In a flash, we were in Reims, the start of the Champagne region. This convenient accessibility makes the region an obvious choice for tourists.
As I researched the endless options in preparation for the trip, my browser scrolled onto an offer too good to pass over: a luxurious houseboat that navigates the scenic canals of Champagne, where you can moor at a different destination every evening without the hassle of a daily pack-up or travel between stays.
Being the avid drinkers that we are, the three of us would be experiencing the area in an utterly unique way. While a village inn tucked away on a cobblestoned street or a swanky five-star hotel on a vineyard might have their perks, this would be a story worth sharing.
In addition, the eco-boat is equipped with e-bikes for cycling to the Champagne houses and back (no need to hire a car or pay for taxis) and if that’s not enough, on our return to the boat, a steaming Nordic hot tub on the deck will be there to greet us. A second pinch required, yes this was all real!
The Land of Bubbles
Most wine drinkers will know that for a bottle to brandish the name “Champagne” the wine must have had its origin and creation in the Champagne region using “la méthode Champenoise” or traditional method, where a strictly regulated list of requirements dictates every step of the production process.
Today, Champagne boasts about 16,000 grape growers; 4,300 producers; and 370 houses. The region’s terroir is marked by chalky and clay soils, which are ideal for pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay.
In 2015, “the Champagne hillsides, houses and cellars” were added to Unesco's list of world heritage sites, valued as a “cultural landscape shaped by the production of sparkling wines since the 17th century”.
In decades past, the focus has been on tasting, but now it shifted towards education and experience, giving guests a greater immersive experience.
Day 1: Meet the Boat
Upon our arrival at Reims station, Nicholas Braud — one of the owners — enthusiastically greeted us. Soon his midnight-blue Volvo was coursing through the country lanes, flanked by virescent vines and charming rural villages. Twenty minutes later we pulled up alongside the houseboat to a second warm greeting from Sandra, Nicholas’s charming wife.
For the two of them, the dream of a unique hospitality project began in September 2021. Sandra initially wanted a castle with horses, but Nicholas eventually persuaded her to migrate to something a little more accessible — hence the houseboat idea. “Our friends thought we were a little crazy, but soon realised the novelty of the offering.”
They were determined to be hands-on right from the start. The architect used their ideas to produce the final product, and even when some of their requests were “impossible” (the on-board Nordic bath, for example) they persisted.
Generously proportioned at 15 x 4m, the boat has two king en-suite bedrooms (one with an overhead retractable bed for another person). The ample central living space has a fully equipped kitchen and a leather sleeper couch, stretching the sleeping capacity to seven if necessary. While the moderate July temperatures meant we slept comfortably with the windows open, there is air-conditioning and heating in the rooms if required. On the rear, a staircase gives access to the solarium lounge above, where we spent countless hours reclining on the steamers as the postcard landscapes rolled by.
While the boat has an element of business, for the Brauds it is their love child and passion project too. Their pride in it was evident, and as we cruised the canals over the following days, the boat garnered stares of admiration from fishermen, cyclists and passers-by — all offering words of approval and interest — resulting in glowing smiles from the couple.
The owners, incidentally, do not stay with guests on the boat. They drive and meet you each day to pilot the boat to the next destination and then leave, so you and your guests do have it to yourselves.
After a quick lunch at the local restaurant, the Pressoria would be our first vino-outing — a relatively new development to the region, which we heard was a must-visit by our hosts. Created in partnership with the local villages, the Pressoria is a multisensory educational experience — think of it as a wine-museum-cum-tech-expo.
The clever use of projections, sound and space provided us with a superbly tangible experience that brought to life the mechanics of earth, climate and winemaking that result in this celebrated drink. Vine roots would dart across the floors, fragrance jars imparted cultivar aromas and textures, and an interactive bubble wall had us excitedly skirting its edges.
This symphony of sensation is the finest wine educational experience I’ve ever visited and served as a brilliant introduction to the region and wines we’d soon be tasting (and yes, the experience included a tasting at the end).
After stocking up at the local supermarket on baguettes, cheese and cured meats, we walked back to the houseboat to find the Nordic bath preheated, and the boat positioned to watch the rather appropriately rosé-tinted sunset.
Day 2: Time for Tasting
With no shortage of Champagne houses, it is a daunting task to know which to choose, especially for a varied tasting experience that doesn’t only take in the big names. Here’s where the Brauds' intuitive hosting continues. Knowing the area intimately and considering my email request, they had created a suggested itinerary and sent it to us.
Once we had made one or two minor tweaks, our hosts had booked everything for us, saving countless time on research, emails and phone calls.
Ready to dive glass-first into the tastings, we were fortunate enough to be collected by none other than Lallier’s delightful global brand ambassador Sarah Durand (talk about your hosts being connected).
Sarah certainly has a glittering role and her passion for both brand and region is contagious. Since the House in Äy (read tasting room) was undergoing a few renovations, we joined her at Lallier’s cellar for a tasting and conversation.
Every wine in the sparkling line-up seemed a showstopper but, looking back, Réflexion was a magnificent fizz: a multi-vintage cuvée that paid homage to the characteristics of the year but was also underpinned by the heritage of the estate through the blending of 30% of reserve wines from previous vintages.
Ouvrage was, however, the hero bottle: a grand cru produced from only two plots. This hyperlocal expression of the region was endowed with five years of fermentation on the lees to reach this level of quality.
Back in Äy, we shifted to the Champagne house of Guy Charbaut. Here, our host Anna led us through our first experience of the subterraneous tunnels for which Champagne is so well known. Running for kilometres beneath the villages, these caverns nurture precious bottles in cool underground temperatures in their thousands. We walked through a section of their 1,500m of tunnels — the oldest section of the cellar dating to 1810 — where 500,000 bottles sat waiting patiently for release to be enjoyed about the world.
Finally, we took a tipsy saunter back to the boat for another session in the hot tub to take Dom Pérignon’s famed words to heart: “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars”. Here we were quite literally drinking the stars from our hot tub while taking in a canopy of a glittering firmament above.
Day 3: Vines and Villages
Hautvillers, proud custodian of its grand cru vineyards, is considered to be the “quintessential” Champagne village. On our e-bikes, it was a surprisingly easy climb up the hill arriving at the enchanting hamlet, home to a host of family-run champagne houses.
At Champagne Fernand Lemaire, fourth-generation owner Benoît Lemaire is one of the “vignerons indépendants” or “small growers”, who proudly ushered us through his family’s cellar and caves. “In the 1980s there were several thousand of us grower-producers, but now the number is about 700. The pressures of handling everything ourselves are immense.”
Our tour concluded with a tasting of several of their labels, with the Millésime 2012 being our favourite. After umpteen years on the lees the butter and brioche on the palate was quite simply divine.
The Abbey Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers is a magnificent church worth visiting, and also the gravesite of Dom Pérignon, the famed 18th-century pioneer of the Champagne-making process. Passing the large bronze statue of the revered monk as we meandered along the village lanes, Café d'Hautvillers presented itself — the town’s central eatery where traditional French favourites are served up. The mammoth 1.3kg sirloin was enough to feed all three of us, leaving enough leftovers for our evening meal.
Before stocking up on fresh baguettes and pastries from the local boulangerie, we cycled to the lookout point beyond the Abbey, where the views across the valley were as enthralling as our cycle down to the boat.
Day 4: Champagne Avenue
No visit to the region would be complete without a stroll through Épernay’s Avenue de Champagne, a near fairy-tale experience of walking past one impressive Champagne house after another.
After visiting several of the independent growers and vignerons during the week, it was time to experience one of the big names. Moët & Chandon was the choice, and after a stroll through the store, we settled for a vintage tasting in the garden (their underground tours must be booked in advance).
Sadly it was time to bid our hosts-but-now-friends goodbye, after what must be the most clever and thoroughly enjoyable way to visit Champagne: the houseboat experience that will ripple fondly through our memories for many years to come.
GETAWAY AT A GLANCE
- Boat hire: Starts at €549 (R10,600) per night for up to seven people, includes personal itinerary creation, skipper, e-bikes, and eco-wood for the Nordic bath. See the website.
- Pressoria: €18pp for the two-hour experience, including tasting. pressoria.com
- Lallier: Tastings only by private arrangement. champagne-lallier.com
- Moët Tasting: Best booked in advance, from €29. www.moet.com
- Café d'Hautvillers Lunch: €80 for our meals, and bottle of wine dhautvillers.com
- Train cost: from Paris to Reims from €29. sncf-connect.com
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