Our host works for a champagne house and she recommended we either go to Champagne de Castellane or Mercier to see their cave. We opted for the cellar with the beautiful tower.
12 Euros per person gets you a Wonderful, informative tour of the Champagne cave (cellar) plus a view of mini museum dedicated to history of their champagne AND a tasting at the end of the tour.
The tour lasted 50 minutes. Our guide showed us the vats where 100,000 L of champagne were stored, how they turn the bottles to remove the sediment and treasures of champagne bottles that were centuries old.
Someone in the group asked as we walked by crates of champagne what year and type of champagne the bottles were. She replied that champagne bottles are marked by a special system that only the specialists knew.
I love learning about champagne!
And the tasting at the end of tour was wonderful! They gave us a sample of the Champagne de Castellane Brut. Amazing! Fresh, bubbly, flavorful. This was much better than the Moet et Chandon we were drinking in NY. I wish we ordered a couple of bottles to ship home. read more