With my girlies we decided to spend an afternoon in Champagne. None of us had been before, and after being in France for so long and also lovely champagne for so long, it was about time we made it happen. Despite the rainy and the cold, we made our way to Epernay, about an hour and a half northeast of Paris by car.

On the way to Epernay we decided to pop by Launois Père et Fils first- in Le Mesnil sur Oger. This was such a great find. A guy named Nicholas there sat with us for about two hours telling us all about the different kinds of champagne and the history of champagne while we tasted five different types of their champagne. Did I mention that it was completely free? He was ever so kind to offer our chauffer (my super nice boyfriend) 2 bottles of champagne as he couldn’t drink at the tasting. Launois Père et Fils also has a vineyard tour, cellar tour as well as a all-you-can-drink-champagne dinner that I definitely plan to do sometime. You can find out more on their website.

Our second stop was a brand a bit more commercialized: Castellane. Here we did the cellar tour, where we discovered the process of how champagne is created and stored. We also got to climb the tower for a 360 degree view of Epernay.

Our third stop which didn’t turn out really to be a stop was Moët et Chandon, which was located on the main strip Avenue de Champagne amongst many others such as Perrier-Jouët (first on my list for the next time I go to Epernay!).

You can take the train to Epernay, which is walking distance from the different Maisons du Champagne. The other city in the Champagne region which is worth a visit is Reims. There are a lot of brands to choose from so get ready to get your bubbly on.