"Grand Cru village" | Bed & Breakfast In Champagne

Champagne Harvest

The dates for the champagne harvest for 2013 have been announced, and it starts in Verzy on the 4th October for Chardonnay grapes and the 6th October for Pinot Noir grapes.

And you can come and get involved if you want to experience the atmosphere and the excitement of the highlight of the year here in Champagne.

Your day starts with a trip out to the vineyards and armed with a pair of secateurs, you’ll be instructed on what to pick, how to pick and where to put the grapes when you’ve picked!

And then, off to the press house to enjoy the process of crushing the grapes and watching the juice being extracted, followed by a tasting of the juice straight from the press.

Lunch follows where you’ll enjoy 3 champagnes and a typical harvesters lunch with the team. Would you like to come?

Click here to find out more

“These people simply effervesce, they really are bubbly in every way, the welcome, the room, the breakfast and of course Verzy, this sleepy village surrounded by vines and Champagne Houses.”

We’re looking forward to seeing you in Champagne for the 2013 harvest 😉

Yvonne

Today was such a beautiful day, my daughters and I took a stroll through the wonderful forest of Verzy and shot some video so you can see what it’s like. Rare beech trees grow here, called “Les Faux” which literally means the false ones, but they’re not false, they’re real! Instead of growing straight up like a regular beech tree, they grow this way and that in a gnarled and hap-hazard way, and cast their branches right down to the ground, making a sort of umbrella or igloo shape. Rare indeed.

Take a look at the video here… enjoy!

More Clicquot

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Continuing the Veuve Clicquot theme that I started on a previous post, I took Pepper out into the vineyards today, behind the Clicquot Manoir here in Verzy, and discovered some little yellow signs alongside the vines. Each sign had a name on it with a date, and I was fascinated to learn what they were for.

Take a look at the video and you’ll find out.

Enjoy!

Veuve Clicquot’s Mansion in Verzy

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I was out and about with my dog today, so I took three short videos on the lovely mansion here in Verzy, built by Mme Clicquot in the mid 1800s for entertaining her very important clients from the European aristocracy. It’s still used to today to entertain VIP clients, by invitation only. Take a look at the videos here… Enjoy!

Sexual confusion in the vineyards

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This is a short video about how the grape farmers stop the rot caused by two particular butterflies. They attach small brown plastic pods to the wires which support the vines, inside of which is the sexual hormones of the female butterflies. The emission of the hormones confuses the male butterflies and so they can’t find the eggs to fertilise! I thought that was so clever when it was explained to me by Isabelle Corbeaux of Champagne Pierre Deville and Veronique Lallement of Champagne Lallement, two lovely French ladies who are part of my English class here in Verzy.

You can see what I’m talking about in this video below.

Enjoy!

Festivals in Champagne

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Last Sunday, the sun was shining and the sky was blue, so we headed off to the nearby village of Ay, which was more prominent than Epernay back in the days of Henri IV. He favoured many of the champagne houses there, especially Bollinger. So every other year, even numbers only, the residents of Ay hold a festival in his honour. Here are some pictures of the day.

It was quite warm, but thankfully someone thought to give the horses some shade under the parasol!

Many of the champagne houses opened their doors to the tourists, and here at Bollinger, there was al fresco dining to the tune of a small group of musicians.

And lunch at Champagne Ed. Brun was very lively with a fantastic jazz band playing while we ate.

Put it in your diary for 2012, it’s a great day out

Walking in the forest

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It was such a beautiful day yesterday, that I decided to take my dog up into the forest and take some pictures of ‘Les Faux’ the twisted beech trees that only grow here in Verzy, near Hanover in Germany and near Malmo in Sweden. Hope you like the pictures. I took some video too, and once I figure out how to upload it, I’ll do it! Just one of the great things we can do here in Verzy.