Champagne Valley

All champagne, all the time--at least that's what it often felt like as we continued to make our way down the Canal Lateral a la Marne, and then the Marne River. Bisseuil, Mareuil-sur-Ay, Cumieres, and Dormans were all small-village overnight stops for us after we left Chalons-en-Champagne, and all had champagne houses to a greater or lesser degree. This was true as well for Ay, Epernay, and Hautvillers, towns and villages to which we made cycling excursions. Champagne is a source of cultural pride for the French, and in July 2015 the "Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars" were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as a "living cultural landscape". A whole tourism industry has developed around champagne.

Champagne is sparkling wine, the "sparkles" produced as a result of a 2nd fermentation in the production process. But not all sparkling wine is Champagne (with a capital "C"). Many legal structures reserve the word "Champagne" exclusively for sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. It is produced under a strict set of rules and regulations that specify everything from grapes that may be used, to pressing techniques, to soils the vines may be planted in, and on and on. 

On the day we left Chalons-en-Champagne we passed the junction with the Canal de l'Aisne a la Marne and continued cruising west on the Canal Lateral a la Marne, stopping for the evening in the small village of Bisseuil before continuing on the next day to Mareuil-sur-Ay. About this time, we started seeing vineyards on the hillsides surrounding the waterway.

The soil in the area is chalky limestone, which drains well and
provides the grape vines with excellent growing conditions.

C.A.R.I.B. III (at left) moored in front of a residential barge in Mareuil-sur-Ay.

We stayed two nights in Mareuil-sur-Ay, and on our full day
there, who should cruise into town but former port neighbors of
 ours (in 2021) in Port Royal, Auxonne. We returned from a day out to
 find Canadians (but now living in France) Jonathan and Jeannie
rafted next to us on their barge Aleau.

Summer has arrived. On a lovely sunny day, we cycled up into
the vineyards to see the village of Mareuil from the perspective
 of the Notre Dame Du Gruguet monument. This was a statue of the Virgin
Mary placed on the hilltop by the town in thanks for being
 spared the bombardments of 1944, and the safe return
 of their prisoners of war.

A panoramic view of the Marne valley, Margeuil-sur-Ay, and the vineyards.

Margeuil was a great base from which to cycle to two other towns in the near vicinity, Ay and Epernay. Ay, despite being of very modest size (between 5 and 6 thousand residents), had at least 2 dozen champagne houses within its borders. It was also the birthplace of Rene Lalique, the founding jeweler and glassmaker of the luxury French brand "Lalique."

The tourist office in Ay supplied us with a "discover Lalique"
walking tour. It was interesting in its way, but it almost seemed as though
its real purpose was to get us to walk past all of the local champagne houses.

Ay had quite a few timbered houses, including this one
that is thought to have been the press house of King
Henry IV of France, who loved Ay wines.

Epernay is a much larger town of about 30,000 people, and is all about champagne. Although a town has been in the area for centuries, it's been damaged and rebuilt so many times over the years that there isn't much in the town that is particularly old, just bits and pieces. It is, however, famous for its "Avenue de Champagne", which features the leading champagne manufacturers.

Epernay calls itself the "Capitol of Champagne".

Just one of the many champagne houses along the "Avenue de
Champagne." The manufacturers say that champagne is expensive
because of the double fermentation process, but I tend to think
that more than a little bit of the price is due to the lavish
houses and the luxury branding.

Another champagne house. Champagne tastings
 were on offer everywhere we looked.

The fresh produce at the covered market made me 
wish I was able to shop and get it back to the boat.

The Portail-Saint-Martin, one of the few bits of "old" in Epernay.
 Dating from 1540, it's the one remaining piece of the
 former Notre-Dame abbey church.

We left our mooring in Mareuil-sur-Ay on Sunday, May 28, and had a very short cruise--under two hours. We passed from the Canal Lateral a la Marne into the Marne River proper and stopped in the village of Cumieres. It was a cute little place and had a few champagne houses, but the main interest for us was that we would be able to cycle up the hill behind Cumieres to the village of Hautvillers. 

Hautvillers became famous in the 18th century as the site where Dom Perignon, a Benedictine monk, worked to develop champagne as it is known today. He was an important quality pioneer for Champagne wine, but contrary to popular legend, he was not the discoverer of the method for making sparkling wines. Most people are likely only aware of the name "Dom Perignon" in relation to the luxury champagne brand produced by the company Moet & Chandon.

From our mooring in Cumieres we could see the road we'd be
biking up to get to Hautvillers.

E-bike notwithstanding, the hill was very steep and Lon
had to work hard to get his bike up the hill.

The view down the hill toward Cumieres. There's a boat
visible in the middle of the river in the distance, and
CARIB is a small blue "dot" along the shore just beyond it.

Another view from "up top", this looking at the last lock
we'd passed through on the Canal lateral a la Marne.

Champagne tastings were a popular activity in Hautvillers
that Sunday afternoon.

Dom Perignon is buried in the abbey church where
he served. His grave marker is to the left and a visitation
is a "must do" when visiting Hautvillers.

The village has maintained a lot of its old buildings, probably due to its protected
position high above potential marauders over the centuries.

The Champagne house we visited when we were
in Chalons-en-Champagne grows some of its
grapes in the hills around Cumieres.

Well over 100 buildings in Hautvillers are adorned with iron signs
of various designs. This sign displays tools that are used in 
viticulture.

We took a lot of rubber off our cycle brakes during the steep descent on our return to the boat.

The following day we left Cumieres, and although it was a public holiday (Whit Monday, the day after Pentecost), the locks were operating. The first three locks on the Marne were of an unusual construction--they were longer and wider than the locks we'd been using on the canals, and they had sloped sides and a floating pontoon that we had to tie up to while the water lowered in the lock.

The sloped wall of the lock is visible on the right, as is the
walkway to the pontoon we were moored to.

Our stop for the day was a sturdy pontoon next to a campground at the town of Dormans. Nominally it is a champagne town, but not to the same degree as the previous towns and villages we'd stopped at, and it was exceedingly quiet on this holiday.

Dormans is significant as the site of one of four national monuments to WWI in France, in this case, the "Memorial of the Battles of the Marne." The memorial was created in memory of the important victories at the 1st and 2nd Battles of the Marne (September 1914 and July 1918). Dormans was selected as the location by Marshal Foch, the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War, as representing the "synthetic point of the two battles of the Marne". It was built between 1921 and 1931.

The Chateau de Dormans, in whose garden the Memorial is built.

Visitors are allowed to climb up to the viewing area of the main
tower. Lon was enjoying the view over the Marne.

The front approach to the Memorial.

The ossuary, which contains the remains of nearly
1500 unidentified soldiers distributed among 130 coffins,
 and 11 soldiers whose identities are known.

Pat climbing the steps to approach the Memorial. The chateau
is visible in the upper right.

Our mooring in Dormans, taken from the perspective of the bridge that allowed us to
cross the river into town. We're big fans of the color of the water.

Next stop as we continue west toward Paris: Chateau Thierry.