6 Food & Drink in That You Shouldn't Miss

Reviewed By scooby1305 - Brussels, Belgium

Prior to visiting this museum, we had already taken the guided tours of both Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot and had covered a good bit of the country-side from Verzenay to Ay and many other villages in between. While tours of the corporate “big name” Champagne houses in Reims or Epernay are worthwhile in their own right, it is in the country-side and with the smaller growers & producers that the natural beauty, history, continued effort and passion of the Champagne region really comes alive. Here it becomes deeply personal and one gets much closer to the character of the leaders and teams behind it all, the true heart of the region. Without a doubt, one such character full of drive and on a life-long mission to produce great Champagne and promote his “terroir” is Bernard Launois. Aside from being one of our favorite Champagne producers, this family has also invested heavily into buying historical properties of immense beauty in the region – see the castle shown on their website as an example - and, importantly, establishing a fantastic museum, which captures many facets of the history and crafts of the Champagne region that otherwise would likely be lost to the sands of time. The sheer amount of effort and capital that has, quite apparently, gone into collecting, preparing and showing the museum’s many different collections is truly immense. This takes on a whole different dimension still when one learns that only ca. 20% of all collections are currently on display. Launois is doing a great job here of safeguarding the history of the region and presenting it so well. No other Champagne-specific museum there even comes close. We had set our appointment well in advance and were greeted on the day by Cloe and Tomas. English was spoken to a very good degree and, due to Corona, we were extremely fortunate to have a complete museum tour just for the two of us instead of sharing the space with a bus-load of others. It does not get much more private and exclusive than that. Cloe was our guide, and despite being very young she turned out to be exceptionally knowledgeable regarding the many questions we had. Tomas and Cloe then supported us for a nice tasting post-museum visit, and we were shown a part of the collection not yet on public display. For that great experience and service we are very thankful. We highly recommend visitors to the Champagne region to either come by their own car or to rent one and to go into the country-side. Doing so is sure to significantly expand your sight-seeing experience, and with the added benefit of discovering many more great Champagnes at much lower price-points than you would in the cities.