He stands before me in a navy blue apron, holds a steady hand up to his nose, and chops the air. “Like this,” he says, trying to encapsulate the nature of the bottle in a single gesture.
Montgueux is the closest wine-growing area to Troyes (Photo: Getty)
To the north sit the big guns, the cities of Reims and Épernay, where Bollinger, Krug, and Moët & Chandon preside over their capacious cellars.
Despite the self-styled title, if you had travelled here ignorant of its geographical prestige, you may never catch on. Instead of neat parcels of vines patterning the countryside, there’s only a single vine-striped hill, Montgueux. France’s largest outlet malls on Troyes’s outskirts pull attention, while the city’s most famous museum has a focus, not on vinification, but spanners.
Cathedral Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul, Troyes (Photo: Studio OG/Troyes La Champagne Tourisme)
Built on the success of the city’s medieval textile industry, the historic centre, rotten and uncared for, was almost flattened in the early 20th century. Happily, the restoration argument won out and visitors can explore a maze of atmospheric alleys (such as Ruelle des Chats, where opposing houses nearly touch) and quiet, unexpected courtyards – such as Mopo’s – with the houses clad in overlapping diamonds of rot-resistant chestnut wood.
Even more statistically compelling than Mopo’s tool count is how the Aube department, which includes Troyes, accounts for 40 per cent of the world’s stained-glass. The city’s stained-glass museum, housed in a grand 18th century former hospital, brings the artwork down to eye-level.
Mopo Troyes: House of Tools and Working Thought (Photo: Maison de l’Outil et de la Pensée Ouvrière)As you’re consulting your map of Troyes’s town centre, its shape – that of a champagne cork – is working subliminally on your mind. Despite all the stained glass, tools and textiles, you’re in wine country.
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Hélène Beaugrand is a winemaker whose family is so authentically Montgueux that her street address is also her grandfather’s name. Her patter as sparkling as her product, Beaugrand explains her wine-making process while pouring fizzing glassfuls for me to taste. It’s £21pp for an hour-and-a-half tasting of five cuvées (book in advance); for comparison, a tasting at Moët & Chandon in the north starts at around £38pp.
Back in the historic centre, I continue my own narrative, tasting champagnes via a flight at Chez Philippe (£13 for three small glasses), which is located on the historic nexus of Rue Champeaux. It’s the weekend, the streets are filled with people and a motorcycle festival has blazed incongruously into this half-timbered town.
I’m pleased to find the average glass of champagne hovers around £7 (in Reims, places like Winebar Reims offer glasses from £12).
Waking the next morning, ready for my cycle to the nearby Orient Lakes (£13 e-bike hire for one day; Maison du Velo), I have a eureka moment concerning Jean-Michel’s esoteric gesture. Drink only champagne and you won’t have a headache in the morning.
Getting there
The writer was a guest of Troyes Champagne Tourism and Eurostar. Eurostar tickets from London St Pancras International to Paris Gare Du Nord start from £39 one-way, eurostar.com
Staying there
Doubles at Okko Hotels Troyes Centre, close to the railway station, start from £72 (€85) per night, without breakfast. There’s also a £1pp, per night tourist tax, okkohotels.com
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