Champagne is a sparkling wine, which is produced in the champagne region in France. The more prominent champagne houses are located in Reims and Epernay. One of the houses I visited was Maison Eugène Mercier.
Eugène Mercier founded his own champagne house in 1858. His ambition wat to bring high-quality champagne to the masses. For the purpose of large-scale assemblage, Eugène Mercier built a giant oak vat of 1.600 hectolitres (the equivalent of 200.000 bottles). It took eight days, twelve pairs of oxen and eighteen horses to transport this twenty-ton "Cathedral of Champagne" from Epernay to Paris for the 1889 World Exhibition. A number of lights and building facades were to pay the price along the route.
It was at Mercier where I had my first Biscuits Roses de Reims. Biscuits Roses de Reims were first backed around 1690 at Reims. In between of two bake sessions a baker wanted to use the heat of his bread oven. He then got the idea to make a special dough and baked this twice (hence the name bis-cuit which means double baked). The biscuit was first just white. To flavour it a vanilla stick was added to the recipe, but that left brown traces on the biscuit. To hide this traces the baker added a natural pigment and so the delicious Biscuits de Reims was born.
The most subtle aromas are released when the powdered and crunchy Biscuits de Reims is dipped in champagne. DELICIOUS!
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