Anyone who has more than 18 years of age has at least certainly tasted champagne once in a solemn occasion. With my family this summer we had a few weekly holidays in Paris and after consider all the sights of this ancient and beautiful city one day we decided to go in  Reims - or as the French call it - the City of the champagne. We took a rental car that was not so expensive, about $70 per day. Driving to Reims took about an hour and a half, not taking into account the time until we went out of Paris. Reims is a typical ancient city - it is beautiful as most French cities but the most important and oldest tradition is hiding underground in the endless tunnels in which is stored and matures the famous champagne.

Down in the underground tunnels, the most interesting finding was that the temperature is always constant, which is always around 53 F since the year 1130 when the first monks produced champagne until today. It is so quiet without any modern machinery or equipment and in the darkness of the tunnels is stored millions of bottles of champagne.

The secret that we discovered from our hosts for the beauty and attractiveness of champagne lies in the fact that the grapes should be of the best quality. The manipulation of harvesting, milling, filling of the bottles has to be done manually. Maturation of champagne last at least 5 years but if the champagne is older than that then it is much better and commands a higher price. So a bottle of champagne can be bought for as low as 50 Euros up to an astounding 9000 Euros.

When we went out from the underground, the hosts served us with a glass of white champagne. Who knows, if all this wizardry that we experienced in the underground tunnels and the impression that I got about how champagne is produced, caused me such an impression that I had never tasted such a pleasant beverage. Of course written words can capture and describe the atmosphere that I felt, but my recommendation is to anyone who intends to travel in France to visit the city of Reims.

To be honest, before I saw it, I had quite another idea of champagne as a drink in many ways. I compared champagne with wine and thought that the difference between champagne and wine is in the bottle form and the content of the bubbles that you feel when drinking champagne. Now I realized the huge difference between wine and champagne.