Champagne Concludes: Yves Jacopé and a stroll down the Avenue de Champagne

Champagne Yves Jacopé is located in Broyes, about 3 blocks (if you can call them that) from my cottage. When I walked over to see if I could look around and taste, I was met by (I believe) the teenaged daughter of the proprietor and her aunt, who had seemingly just fetched the daughter from school. (I say “I believe” and “seemingly” because they spoke almost no English, and I speak almost no French, so my powers of observation and deduction are all I had to go on!) Despite the language barrier, I was able to taste 3 of their delicious Champagnes, which had been made 100% from grapes had been grown mere feet from where I sat, on the slopes of the town of Broyes.

View from the courtyard of the tasting room at Yves Jacope.

View of the valley on the side of Broyes opposite of Yves Jacopé. Beauty and vines everywhere you look!

Epernay and the Avenue de Champagne

On the last day of my visit, I drove up to Epernay to walk down the “Rodeo Drive” of the Champagne region: the Avenue de Champagne. Moët & Chandon, Pol Roger, Perrier-Jouët – these houses are all headquartered on this manicured avenue in Epernay, about 30 minutes south of Reims. I didn’t set up any tastings or tours, since I was short on time and I’d already toured one large producer (Taittinger) earlier in the week. I simply wanted to see the houses themselves, and to snap a photo of the statue of Dom Pérignon in the courtyard of Moët & Chandon. Pérignon is the namesake of Moët & Chandon’s top brand, and an important contributor to the development of the Champagne process.  According to legend, upon drinking his first sip of bubbly, he exhorted to his fellow monks, “Come quickly! I am drinking the stars!”

Although it was a beautiful morning for capturing images of these beautiful properties, the main facility of Moët & Chandon which has the statue of Dom Pérignon is currently undergoing renovations, so the courtyard where the statue resides was inaccessible. Maybe next time…

For this time, here are some of the shots that I got of the properties of the other large houses. It was pretty quiet, since it was Saturday morning and the houses were closed up, but I still got some lovely shots:

Sign for the world-famous Avenue de Champagne!

Moët & Chandon has several buildings on the Avenue – this is the garden across the street from the main facility. If you look closely, you can see the “Moët & Chandon” in the middle of the reflecting pool. Gorgeous…

Another of the Moët & Chandon buildings.

Main building for Perrier-Jouët

One of two buildings for Pol Roger (this one was the prettier one!)

And so I hopped in my sweet Mercedes with the proper English GPS system and programmed the next stop on the journey and my home for the next week: Place Monge in Beaune – the heart of Burgundian wine country. Until next time, cheers!