Mumm and Paris

 

 We had a nice breakfast (omelettes to order and pots of filtered coffee delivered to the table) and left for a tour and tasting at GH Mumm in Reims. Maria gave a brief intro on our 10-minute bus ride. Mumm is the third largest champagne producer. Mumm was a wealthy German family with noble roots back to the 3rd century. They later became very successful winemakers in Germany. In 1827, recognizing the possibilities of expansion, they came to Reims. They now have 218 hectares in production of which 160 are grand cru, the highest classification. 

Our guide Ava, said that they have 78% of their vineyards in pinot noir, a red skinned grape with white juice. They have these planted in a number of different terroirs, lending character to the wine. The grapes recently were harvested, all by hand as is required by the certification board. It takes 800 pickers 2 weeks to complete the harvest. 

After the stems are removed and the grapes are sorted, they are very slowly and gently crushed and stored in stainless steel tanks with no covers. She explained they used to use oak and then concrete (lined with ceramic tiles that look like kitchen subway tiles) but the stainless steel is better for regulating the temperature. They have 500 of these stainless steel vats in their underground cellar. 

After 8 months, they remove the sediment, taste the wine and determine if they will use it, not use it or reserve it to add to another year’s blend. The cellar master and a committee of less than ten people determine how to blend the champagne. They add yeast and beet sugar to the bottles and cap it with a beer bottle cap. They then age it for various periods - 3 years for the basic, 5 for the next step up and 7 years for the premier and for vintage (single year) wines. They also age the bigger bottles longer. She told us about a 30-liter bottle that is aged for 20 years. This is all done in their miles of underground cellars under the streets of Reims. 

She showed us a bottle with the spent yeast sediment in it, and explained the riddling and disgorgement process. The rotation is done by machine for most of the production but for larger bottles and very special issues, it is done by hand. They have 2 guys who can each rotate 50,000 bottles per day for a two-week period. For the disgorgement she explained that they only freeze the neck of the bottle, so the wine is not affected. She also said they add reserve wine and sugar to compensate for the loss of the sediment. The amount of sugar added determines how sweet the wine will be. For their most popular wine, they are adding 8 grams of sugar. They then add the cork and wire and store the bottles for another 4 months to allow the added sugar and reserve wine to be fully incorporated. 

She showed us some vintage bottles and rare bottles in a locked cellar. Some were from the 1800s, and she said these are just for show - the wine would taste like vinegar. Others still are aging - they haven’t done the disgorgement yet - but she said the older ones do not have as much fizz. She said a famous chef was serving some of their champagne from the 1950’s, and it is still drinkable. 

We went through a museum of old machinery and it ended with a display of a bottle they made to go into space. We then went to the tasting room and had a delicious glass of their Brut rouge - made with a majority of pinot noir and lesser amounts of Chardonnay and pinot meunier. We bought a bottle to take to Paris. 

It was now raining steadily as we got back on the bus. Our driver dropped us near the hotel. We had less than an hour to pick up lunch in Reims. We found a bakery for sandwiches and quiche. Then we made a last pit stop at the hotel (no red toilet seats as at Mumm) and boarded the bus for our 2-hour ride to Paris. 

We got to Paris and checked into the Hotel Paris Opera. It was a long wait to get on the tiny elevator. Only 2 people at a time could fit, and Nick’s monster suitcase of course took an inordinate amount of room. We found Room 208 after some searching- it is small, no walk in shower, but it has a refrigerator so that makes up for a lot. On the bus, Nick and Sue learned they were successful in bidding for a business class upgrade for our Dublin to Chicago flight on Monday. It means we can bring more 23 K suitcases, but at this point, we can’t see the hassle being worth it. 

At 5:15 we met Mary, Julie, Helen and David in the lobby to go for a private boat ride on the Seine. Mary had booked this months ago in Dublin. The sun came out as we pulled into the hotel, so we took that as a good sign. We decided to take an Uber as the subway was supposedly crowded. The app was glitchy and said he was 12 minutes away, but suddenly he appeared across the busy street and sent urgent messages to come now. We climbed in and he navigated heavy rush hour traffic to the City Hall. Down the road we found the sign for our boat. Mary bantered with some South Africa fans. 

We boarded the boat with our captain Arthur, a young man with a great personality. There were 2 cheese and meat trays and a couple baskets of bread. He offered us blankets as it was getting chilly. We headed for the Eiffel Tower, where Arthur snapped a great photo. It was simply magical seeing all the beautiful monuments of Paris from the boat. At one point it rained a bit (not enough to be bothersome), and a beautiful rainbow appeared. Julie snapped hundreds of photos. Helen went to the front of the boat and got some really great pictures. Highlights included the Louvre, Musee D’Orsay, Ponte Alexander (Arthur said this bridge was named for a Tsar in Russia and there is one just like it in Sevastopol), Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower.  David remarked how clean all the buildings were, and Arthur explained that they are required to paint and refurbish them every ten years. Arthur cheerfully answered any questions we had. We all found the experience heavenly. 

We decided to Uber back to the hotel and again were forced to cross a busy road, this time without a light. Back at the hotel we sat in the lobby and shared some wine and champagne with David and Helen and Lorraine and Peter. Then others from our tour arrived and joined the party. There were maybe 30 of us by the end, sharing bottles we had purchased at our favorite wine tours. Everyone is excited for tomorrow’s game with South Africa.