I had another fabulous adventure this weekend, but since my mom reads this blog (Hi Mom!), practically everything I did involved mountains, and she's scared of heights, I elected to e-mail out the story rather than give her a heart attack. So if you didn't get the e-mail and you want to hear about my weekend, let me know!

Today was another one of those gross, hot, sticky days, so after class I decided to escape somewhere cool. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time or the means to head back down to the Alps, so I went to Epernay instead. If the name sounds familiar, that's probably because you've seen it on a Champagne bottle... Epernay is right in the middle of the Champagne region and home to a lot of the most famous Champagne houses in the world. One of these happens to be Moet & Chandon, which kindly offers tours and tastings at their cellars in Epernay.

When you get to Moet & Chandon, you can choose from three options for your tour. The tours are all the same (a little history, short video on Champagne making, and a walk through the cellars as you learn about the process), but after the tour, you can have one, two, or three glasses of Champagne. I elected three, not because I'm a lush but because I thought option three would be the only one offering a tasting of rosé Champagne, which I really wanted to try. (As it turned out, I was wrong, and I could have had rosé in the two-glass tasting also, but oh well. More Champagne is not exactly a bad thing!)

I'm not going to describe what I learned about the Champagne-making process, because Wikipedia does it much better if you're interested in learning about it, but I will share the fact that the underground cellars maintain a constant 70% humidity all year round, as well as a constant temperature of around 55 F, making it a most perfect escape from the current heat wave. Everyone else on the tour with me looked just as grateful to be somewhere nice and cool as I was!

After the tour, we got our tastings, and mine involved Brut Impérial, Brut Impérial Premier Cru (higher-end Champagne with more Chardonnay, which I can't seem to find online), and Brut Impérial Rosé. As I predicted, the rosé was my favorite, so I bought myself a quarter-size bottle to take home. I don't know when I'll drink it, but I'll definitely drink it - maybe to celebrate the end of finals on Friday afternoon?