TDF 2010 Stage 5 Revisited: On the Avenue de Champagne

On a well guided lark, I asked Benoit Tarlant of Champagne Tarlant if he'd like to cover Thursday's Stage 5 of the Tour de France, from Épernay to Montargis. Knowing what a savvy, energetic guy he is, I had the feeling he'd sink his hands into the day's proceedings in some way. Sure enough, he and some other growers/friends of his were headed to the Avenue de Champagne to pour their wines as the Tour caravan rolled through.

It proved too crazy a day for "real time" reporting but Benoit was good enough to send me the following shots and commentary of the action. He went to the trouble of writing in English, so I'm not going to mess much with his words.... Merci beaucoup, mon ami!

Thursday morning, to be able to drive into Épernay, you had to know the vineyards roads to escape the police, and finally to get into Épernay. I finished the last meters by bicycling as well.

So at 11:00AM, was driving la Caravane du Tour.

It was also the hours meeting for us at Brittle Wine Shop.

You could find Peter Liem, Essi Avellan, Amanda Regan, and some growers: Olivier Paulet, Jérome Dehours, Christophe Constant.

We opened the day with a Mag of Zero Brut Nature. I didn't want the racers to be jealous, so we did a big tasting direct to them when they passed through. Because it was Brut Nature, it didn't stick to them like glue. They just had to open their mouths to get some.... Well, I feel like the French racers were quite happy, and some others were not so happy to get Champagne sprayed into their brand new glasses ;) I received a "gourde" back ;)

Le pot Champenois.

We finished the full day tasting Champagne under a very warm sun, 'til night.