G.H. Mumm
Two Champagne cave tours in one day? Who had ever conceived of such a thing? Well, we had, and after immensely enjoying our first tour at Martel, Therese and I picked up a sandwich at Boulangerie Dufresne Damien (two blocks from Martel and right across the street from the Taitinger Champagne house), and taxied over to Mumm.
What a difference from Martel! First of all, Martel was one or two buildings – Mumm was a complex of innumerable buildings, with the building where the tour would take place about halfway down a very long main driveway.
G.H. Mumm – Wine Tour Building
Disembarking from our taxi, we sat on a stone bench and ate our sandwiches – mine was medallions of chicken breast with mayonnaise (and lettuce and tomato) on the crustiest baguette, just perfect.
Our Sandwiches from Boulangerie Dufresne Damien
When it was nearly time for our Mumm tour to begin, we entered the building and purchased our tickets, and saw further evidence that Mumm was a much larger, more sophisticated operation than Martel. For example, the counter behind which the young lady sat who took our money was tall and of generic hardwood, very much like the kind of counter you see in a bank or museum. Then there was the grand entrance in the middle of the lobby.
G.H. Mumm – Grand Staircase, Main Building
The tour further confirmed my suspicion that this was a much more tightly controlled, formal – dare I say it, corporate – operation. Our tour guide, while informative, was rather dull and humorless, dress in a dark-blue businessman’s suit. There were numerous display cases showing different stages of the Champagne-making process, much the same thing we had heard at Martel just a couple of hours earlier. But here at Mumm, there was an undercurrent of “we’re the only ones who do it right” to the presentation.
Even the caves through which we walked during the tour reflected the difference in character from Martel. While Martel’s looked very raw, spacious with high ceilings, Mumm’s caves are more claustrophobic – they appear to be very cleanly cut out of the rock, with fairly close ceilings (since Mumm and all the other Champagne houses inherited their caves as it were from the Romans, they had no part in creating or carving them – nevertheless, Mumm seems to have gotten caves that completely suit their modern corporate style – ironic, eh?).
However, while at Martel we only got to see a few caves, at Mumm, we were able to get a sense of the vastness of the network of caves/tunnels, as we walked what felt like a great distance underground, only to miraculously return at the end to where we had begun.
Now it was time for our tasting, and here once again I felt a great difference to Martel. Martel’s tasting is three different glasses of champagne, and that is included in a low tour ticket price of 12 Euros. At Mumm, the price of your tour is based on what you want to taste at the end. For a base price of 10 Euros, you get to taste a glass of Mumm’s basic Champagne. For 15 Euros, you get to sample a vintage Champagne, and for 20 Euros per person, you can sample Mumm’s Grand Cru. Since we had already done a tour that day at Martel, where we had drunk 3 glasses of Champagne, we didn’t mind to just drink one glass. But if that had been my one tour of the day, I would’ve felt that the tour was over-priced.
Mumm’s location, just a couple blocks east of our hotel, was convenient. After our tour was done, we were able to very easily walk to the center of Reims, to visit the storied Cathedral Notre Dame de Reims. Along the way, we saw some interesting buildings, including one that displayed a series of murals chronicling the creation of Champagne.
Reims does not appear to be a very old city, since nearly all the buildings and homes were destroyed at the beginning of World War I – and thus, pretty much all the buildings date no earlier than the 1920s. Even the Cathedral was bombed during the war and badly damaged – its bombing became a rallying cry for the French in their fight against the Germans. In the 1930s, the long, arduous process of repairing and restoring the Cathedral began, and that process continues to this day (indeed, when we were there, the Cathedral was partly-covered with scaffolding and the sound of workmen repairing and cleaning was present at all times).
Notre Dame de Reims Cathedral
In spite of the efforts to destroy the Cathedral, its many glorious exterior details are for the most part still intact. For example, I loved the gargoyles here – especially the many fiddle players who ride on the backs of grotesque creatures.
When we entered Reims’ Cathedral, we were troubled to see that some windows are missing their stained glass. I was unable to discover why that is. There are several possible explanations, of course – they may have been removed for cleaning, or destroyed by the World War I bombing and not yet replaced, or perhaps for some of the windows, wealthy sponsors were never found to pay for ornate stained glass. Very possibly, all three explanations are true. In any case, while many windows are missing, a wealth of extraordinary stained glass exists nevertheless, especially in the rose windows and the extraordinary chapel windows designed by modern artist Marc Chagall.
In our travels, more than once Therese and I have seen old churches where modern stained glass done in rich bright colors is laid side by side with original windows. The contrast in colors can be jarring, even unpleasant. By comparison, it is refreshing to see the remarkable job Chagall did of finding colors for his windows that are perfectly in synch with that of the oldest windows in Reims Cathedral. While his characteristic style is very different from that of the Medieval windows, the muted blues and reds tie his stained glass into the fabric of the building.
It’s hard for me to say it, but I think I underestimated how much of an impact Reims’ Cathedral would have on me. In the context of the entire trip, my focus for historic extraordinary buildings was elsewhere – specifically, on Chartres and Mont Saint-Michel. In Reims, we were focused mainly on relaxing and having a good time sampling excellent Champagne. Nevertheless, this Cathedral is significant for French history – the Kings of France were crowned here for many centuries – and there is no question that it is an edifice of singular beauty. We will have to return soon and give this building more time and attention, to really appreciate it as it deserves.
Our day in Reims concluded on a bit of a down note for me. We returned in the evening to Place Drouet D’Erlon. We had two options: to once again eat at Brasserie L’Edito (since we knew we liked it), or to try one of the other many restaurants on the street. We ultimately settled on the latter, and went to the promising Cafe de Reims. However, our server was not thrilled when he heard about my allergy, and was not helpful at all. After much deliberation, I chose a charcuterie opener and then a steak with frites and no sauce. The charcuterie wasn’t bad – just some ham and salamy and bread – but the steak was pretty awful – tasteless and tough.
The next morning, it was already time for us to leave Reims. We had an early breakfast in Hotel Champ Mars (my breakfast is on the right – the baguette and ham and fruit bowl – while Therese’s – with cheeses and milk – is on the left).
Hotel Porte Mars Breakfast
Having breakfasted, we rumbled down the street with our rolly bags in tow to the Reims train station, and soon thereafter, we were on our way – to Rouen, via Paris.
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