Road trip day 2 :: Sleeping at a champagne house

Mr M does a fantastic job at finding accommodation. I don't know how he does it but every where we stay when we go away is excellent. Day two was no different. After spending the day roaming Epernay and the Moet & Chandon champagne caves, which I missed as I'd been down before and therefore on puppy-sitting duty - I settled on a terrace with my own couple of glasses of champagne instead - we headed south to the little town of Vertus to stay the night at the small, boutique champagne house Doyard. 

At the end of World War I Maurice Doyard purchased the vineyard that would be the start of his family's estate and produce champagnes that would shortly receive Premier cru and Grand cru status. Located in almost the dead centre of the 'Côte des Blancs' region, the Doyard champagne house primarily produce 100% chardonnay champagnes, refered to as Blanc de Blancs -  'White from Whites'.

We learnt this on arrival at the small, purpose built hotel on their property 'Le Clos Margot'. Once checked in we were invited to the small reception area set up outside to learn about the house and to sample their champagne. Our host talked us through his family's history and their champagne making processes. You could tell they were very proud of their little production house and with reason; the champagne we were given to sample was excellent.

After visiting the huge names in champagne in both Reims and Epernay it was refreshing to experience the same calibre of champagne at such an intimate level.

::Update; I thought I'd add in here that in the morning our wonderful breakfast, which I snapped here, was included. It was the best breakky of the trip!

Champagne Doyard
39, avenue du Général Leclerc , 51130 Vertus
www.champagnedoyard.fr

xx