Route du Champagne
Every year for a weekend in summer, champagne houses along the Route du Champagne in the Côte des Bar open their doors and welcome visitors for champagne tastings, cellar visits, art exhibits and live music acts.
The catch? Get this - not only is there NO catch, but to drink your fill of fine French champagne straight from the vineyards costs you a whopping 15 Euros - TOTAL.
Yep. Nope. Not a misprint. Each year a certain part of the Côte des Bar, which is the champagne growing-producing region closest to Troyes, the southernmost major town in the region of Champagne, France, swings open their doors for an entire weekend of festivities. During the weekend of La Route du Champagne they welcome tens of thousands of visitors to taste their champagnes and enjoy the exquisite Côte des Bar landscape. They even elect a Miss Champagne, a young maiden from one of the nearby villages, to officiate at some of the tastings.
To participate in the tastings along the Route du Champagne you must purchase the specially designated champagne flute glass, this year printed with the La Route du Champagne en Fete! 2012 slogan. That flute of champagne costs you 15 Euros. Once. And with that, this year, you had over 20 champagne houses and producers and even a Champagne Château - Château de Bligny - where you could get your fill of champagne. Of course, proper etiquette means that you either spit or designate a driver. But with all the impressive art exhibits, the festive decorations along these pictorial and picturesque small country roads and the live music - well, this weekend of champagne tasting was more like a celebration of summer and bubbly all wrapped into one.
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