Strawberry Champagne on Ice

We decided our second, yet first full day in Reims should be a busy one. We also have quite a bit of the Champagne and Burgundy regions to explore and have reserved a car to rent for our time here. One thing we noticed in both Paris and Reims is that lunch time is taken very seriously, like the entire 2 hours of it. Viva la Siesta!! We made a reservation to also tour the champagne caves at Ruinart. Our bag has still not been delivered and after the 27th phone call to Air France and the baggage company that supposedly had our bag, I had had enough. I like to think I am a pretty laid back individual when I am not at work. How-helltotheno-ever, I have a limit of what I will tolerate in my personal life. No delivery company, you do not get to keep our bag for a week in Paris and then claim it needs to be returned to Air France for it to be relabeled with our Reims address, that is changing to Burgundy, that is changing to Switzerland, and expect me to find you competent to schedule it for when we will be in the aforementioned cities. There is a beautiful saying that if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself.

The car rental for exploring Champagne vineyards is now being hired for luggage retrieval. So, after roaming the city we head to our noon time appointment to pick up our vehicle. Remember that long lunch I was mentioning earlier? Yeah that is coming into play right now. They close at 12 on the dot for lunch, so when we pull on the door slightly after it is locked. Plot twist! Looks like it’s time to further explore the city before walking the 50 mins from the car rental place to our Champagne appointment. It is really no big deal and we get a good chuckle out of it. Upon arriving to Reims I had mentioned to Frank how different the city seemed from the last time I was here around 8 years ago. The area in front of Notre Dame Reims was completely different, the town had expanded and grown, and hooray we now have time and a need to walk through it. We pass by many more champagne and wine shops, along with restaurants proudly displaying cuisines from near and far. There is an amazing shopping district with all you could wish to buy, and craft beer bars all over the dang place. Eventually and on time mind you we make it to Maison Ruinart.

We walk in and there is a freaking foosball table with wine bottles instead of little men. I am vaclempt, I LOVE me some foosball and feel like I just entered my dream woman cave. We are greeted, given a brief history of the Ruinart Family, Estate, Winery, and region and then taken on a tour of the caves. I started the tour with a bit of a bang. Upon entering and descending the stairs to the bottling line there is a toy of sorts. One with balls and metal ramps and pulleys that when said balls move around they hit other balls and pulleys and it should be quite entertaining to watch them all go. Fun fact y’all, this toy is a prop and you aren’t supposed to push the balls into motion. If you do so, they will loudly bang into each other echoing off the stone walls and fall on the floor. I am so glad I out grew my awkward phase? That’s right, I didn’t!!

We wind in and down through the centuries old caves and cellars (all of which are around 55º F of course) while getting a brief history of Champagne and the world. It’s interesting hearing about people affected by WWII, since it was overseas for us. They used old wine caves as hiding places, I can’t imagine living in a cold damp place for a multitude of months. Hearing bombs echo off the walls while they shake, it’s something I hope to never experience personally. At the end of the tour we were able to sample the Blanc de Blanc Brut and the Rosé, both the vintage and non-vintage. It presented a theme that quickly became evident in wines from Champagne. They are brighter and crisper than their shipped counter parts to the US. I’m not just pulling your chain or being blinded by local charm and affection.

It truly was less yeasty and bready than the same wines I have sipped on across the pond. It has been said that the sum can exceed the total of the parts and this was definitely the case. How young and innocent these wines tasted and how different the vintage from the blend was. The blends were brighter and lighter on the palate where the vintage of both the white and rose were slightly heavier with a higher complexity that is easily distinguished. My favoirite moment was when our host saw the sunshining through the window on a glass of rosé and shut the curtain because she had ensured the wine was chilled to the exact correct temperature and didn’t want it to warm to much in the sun.

Due to our new evening plans we can’t dillydally so we longingly look at the coolest foosball table I have ever seen in my life and do our best to speed walk to the rental building and hope lunch is over. My favorite part of picking up the car was when we arrived, the woman couldn’t find our reservation because “Ahhh, you were supposed to be here at noon!” It’s probably a good thing I couldn’t quickly translate “Right back at ya” in my brain and say it. She was very nice and helpful despite us “being late” had us on the road to Paris in under 10 mins. So, a complete success, we use the GPS to enter the address of the most inefficient delivery company and start on our way.

Several detours and 1.5 hours later we arrive at a weird warehouse type building to a locked door. After a mildly panicked moment of attempting to open the door a young woman scampers up, pops the door open, and waves us in. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was not it. We are lead into a plain beige and grey office fully reminiscent of Joe vs. The Volcano but with more light and on the floor are 3, count them 3, pieces of luggage. Just hanging out like they are telling each other Dad jokes around the water cooler. No rush or expectation that they may be needed elsewhere, just having a relaxing time to themselves. At least this is the only way I can imagine it that it makes sense to me. Otherwise I might feel even more obligated to point out with a slew of unsavory language that if our bag has been here long enough to make other bag friends, then they have exceptionally failed at their one job.

The woman, retrieved the paper work for us to sign in order claim and bring our bag home, she looked very apologetic, I starred emotionless without blinking between her and the delivery drivers playing cards. For any of you (shout out to Troy) who have seen me completely disinterested in another person’s feelings, you know what my face looks like. Hiding underneath my blank face is a pure feeling of disbelief. Given the total amount of bullshit we were given, the part of us that understood how much, didn’t believe that they would actually have the bag. Frank and I quietly left the building, walked to where I had parked the car, loaded in the bag, got in our seats, put our seats belts on, and then we finally realized we retrieved something we had both thought would never be in our possession again. After a rain of high fives, laughter and googling of reverse directions, we head back to Reims for dinner.

Parking proves a little more troublesome that expected but we eventually find a spot about 3 and a half blocks away. As people who recently lived in Seattle, this is nothing out of the ordinary for city parking. We get his bag in the mini-sized apartment and celebrate again what we have accomplished. We decide on what turns out to be an amazing Asian restaurant. We were both enamored by the fact we had to translate not just one but, a combination of two, lagnuages. Asian being translated into French which we then had to translate into English. It was a great experience, an opportunity to learn something I never in my life thought that I would need to know. Did I mention every day is a learning day?