During my latest visit to Reims I stopped by Taittinger to see their historic caves and imbibe in some delicious Champagne including the latest release of their flagship bottling, Comtes de Champagne. The history of this site is overwhelming. Saint-Nicaise, the bishop of Reims was killed in the 5th century and was buried here. In 1229 an abbey was built by the Benedictine monks over Saint-Nicaise’s gravesite and to house his relics. The abbey was sold during the French Revolution (1789 to 1799) and over time was dismantled for its stone until by the 1800s it was completely destroyed. Much later during World War I the caves were used to house soldiers and refugees; signature etchings and dates carved into the chalk walls from soldiers during World War I can still be seen.
The history of the site extends even further; the existing caves originated as a chalk quarry/pits (called crayères in French) by the Gallo-Romans in the 4th century, with hand cut blocks of chalk stone used for buildings. Some 900 years later, the Benedictine Monks expanded the quarry into caves used for aging their own wines. Since 2015 the cellars have been UNESCO listed.
My next stop was the Cimetière du Nord de Reims to solemnly walk through the old graves. Fresh off my visit to the Taittinger, and looking to explore some of Champagne’s heritage in this cemetery I decided to try and find the Taittinger family headstone.
During my visit to the cemetery I had no information about the location of the family plot. I randomly met another American couple, living in Italy but who enjoy visiting cemeteries during their travels. We were on our phone frantically searching for its whereabouts; remarkably the woman was about to also look for the Taittinger grave locations as Taittinger is her favorite Champagne. Not able to find what we were looking for online, we parted ways, bumped into each other again and agreed we would notify each other if we discovered the family plot.
This cemetery is large and it was late in the day. I didn’t have much time left. Rounding one of the alleyways, I spotted ‘Famille Taittinger’ and quickly recognized the family names etched into the side of the stone. It was cloudy all day, but as soon as I spotted this the sun came out. I called them over and we celebrated our find. They left and I lingered for another 10 minutes. I heard the cork of a bottle of Champagne being opened from one side of the cemetery. I looked over; there was absolutely no one around. The sun quickly became hidden by the clouds and didn’t come out for the rest of the day. I reluctantly left the grave and wandered out of this beautiful soul filled place.
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