Underground at Moët and Chandon Cellars
When I came to the town of Épernay, I was thinking of just taking photos of the champagne houses and that would be it. I thought that the wine tasting tours they have here are something that didn’t really interest me, but the lady at the tourist office convinced me otherwise. Soon, I found myself as part of a group doing the Moët and Chandon Wine Tasting Tour. Immediately, I noticed that I seem to have landed in the Asian group. There was a group of Japanese and another group which was either Malaysian or Singaporean. Obviously, this was the English speaking group. They have other tours where the tour would be in French. Fortunately, the English of the tour guide was impeccable.
Dark Cellars of Moët and Chandon
We started with the history of Moët and Chandon naturally. It was established in 1743 by Claude Moët so it has a lot of history behind it. They would be later joined by Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles and the company would be named Moët and Chandon. Over the years, a fizzy type of wine became popular. This sparkling wine would be known as champagne but that is only reserved for the ones made in this area. Because of the rise in popularity of champagne, Moët and Chandon would soon have the rich and royals as part of their clientele. Épernay would be the center of production of champagne and it is no different for Moët and Chandon. From the main building of the Moët and Chandon, we were soon led underground to where the cellars are.
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