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Planning a night away as a surprise for the missus.

Chose Reims as she is a big fan of the old fizzy stuff (Champagne, not Tizer you scaffs!!) and going to visit the Pommery Estate.

Anyone here been? I assume the food and drink must be half decent? Will I be able to pick up loads of cheap Champers?

We went through there a few years ago and it was quite cheap for champagne, not the big namesbut the smaller ones sell (or sold) bottles at around £9 each and good quality when a similar bottle in the UK sold for around £25-30 a bottle.

That was 3 or 4 years ago now though, sorry can't be more up to date.

PS I love Tizer but only in Scotland when its sold in the Glass bottles...yum.

ohh thats one to remember when i want to take the missus away

Cheers JJ. Will be on the lookout for some cheap bottles to bring back. Driving there as its only 2 hours from Luxembourg so might have to fill up the boot!!!

I haven't had Tizer in ages!!

Reims isn't actually a very beautiful city, but has some nice streets and good restaurants in the old quarter around the attractive cathedral. The HQs of Veuve Clicquot and Mumm are in Reims, but some of the other top champagne houses are  in nearby Epernay (Dom Perignon, Perrier-Jouet), which I believe is quite nice. Soissons, Laon and Chateau Thierry make quite good excursions, and if you want boy-stuff there's some good WW1 history in the region, mainly from 14-15. A great WW1 museum has recently opened in Meaux, which isn't far away either.

Football footnote: FC Reims dominated French football in the 50s, and has just won promotion back to the top league after decades in the wilderness.

You will get a boot load for cheap there, look around at the smaller vinyards, most sell to the public via a shop, you can get some good deals there but make sure you taste test first, not even so you can check the quality but more so that the French appreciate that you take time to try their wines, a fair few will make you a deal on the price too if you buy more than 4 or 5 bottles.

As for Tizer....I won't drink it outside of Scotland now, the best ones are always in the fridges of Chip Shops and ALWAYS in the glass bottles, I prefer Sangs Moray Cup myself now :)

Thanks for all the information, especially about the WW1 museums and the football team, which I didn't know about.

As its so close, I might have to take in a match or 2 next season!

Like JJ, I did a tour a few years back and would recommend the small champagne houses.

I lunched on site and enjoyed a beautiful home-prepared "farmers lunch" of peasant slabs of quiche, salad, fresh homemade bread and fantastic desert comprising fresh picked cherrys in a sturdy "Klafoutis" tart - all pressure-hosed down with the bubbly stuff.

It might not be high end Dom Perignon but it will be authentic and distinctive champagne at a price and quality not easily found back home (although you may just get a small producer with a market stall in Luxembourg?)

And loads of combos to try and enjoy and share for the months after your return:

brut v extra brut
blanc de blancs (chardonnay) v blanc de noirs (pinot noir) v the trad pinot/chardonnay mixture v fashionable rose
non vintage v vintage
the chosen blend (inc champagne grapes from other vineyards) v specif]ic vineyard or even specific vines

Also if you are prone to a quiet midweek celebration (and, tragically, like me now find a whole bottle of a midweek evening a bit much) a case of half bottles can sometimes be very reasonably acquired

Have a great time

Interesting....I just about remember the great Rheims side of the late 50's, I always thought it had an h in it. Raymond Kopa and Juste Fontaine were their star men....got to a couple of European cup finals and got beat by Real Madrid, who as is their way had hoovered up players like Kopa.  They then Juste disappeared off the radar, never quite knew why....in the same way  people might wonder about Nottm Forest.