Les Riceys is the only wine growing area of the Champagne region to have three Appellation d’Origine Contollees. It is the major supplier of grapes for Alexandre Bonnet.

Cruising in France: Day 4 on the Burgundy Canal

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Today our cruise on the Burgundy Canal is from Ravieres to Ancy-le-Franc.

Following a morning drive into Champagne to inspect the vines at a Les Riceys vineyard, we moved on to the Alexandre Bonnet winery for a demonstration of the making of Champagnes by Ervine, the future wine maker of the winery. Included was a sampling of fine Alexandre Bonnet Champagnes.

Ervine, future winemaker, demonstrates how giant tanks are used to produce Champagne at the Alexandre Bonnet winery.
Segolene and Charles de Taisne take great pride in hosting guests to view the rehabilitation of their family home.

A Champagne aperitif and multicourse gourmet lunch was hosted by the vivacious Baroness Segolene and her husband Baron Charles de Taisne in the vaulted 13th century kitchen of their chateau. Their rehab of the family chateau with its thousand-year history is a long-term project with much to be done, but they are already hosting events and weddings in the renovated rooms.

Most of the group opted to walk off their filling lunch with a walk ahead of the barge to a couple of locks down the canal.

A young barge watcher gets a closeup view of La Belle Epoque by peaking over the wall of a lock as the barge passes through.

Story and photos courtesy of Dennis Cox

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