Wow, what a great tour! Did you visit any recoltants? Aside from the main Champagne houses, I haven't heard of the smaller ones you mentioned, so I'm asking if any of them are Recoltants or not.
As for the language barrier, I totally agree and I really can't imagine how you were there most of the time by yourself without knowing French. I mean not only because you could get a better connection with the winemakers, but also to live anywhere outside the big tourist cities. But when I was in France, even in Paris, people mostly don't want to talk to me in English tho.
Constant Lemaire, Paul Clouet, and Michel Gonet are all recoltants. So are Egly-Ouriet, Vilmart & Cie, and Marguet, but I just stopped by those places and didn't really get to tour or taste there.
For the language barrier, I definitely wish I had focused a bit more on learning more French before I went, but most of the winemakers and other staff spoke at least some English, and were fairly nice about it. I did make an effort to greet people and navigate as much as possible in French, and not just assume everyone was going to speak to me in English, and that goes a long way. I only had one encounter with someone who didn't speak any English, and we still managed to communicate about the wine - because, as I mentioned, a lot of wine words are in French anyway! My experience with traveling solo in countries that speak other languages is that when you're on your own and have no choice, you pick up a lot in a hurry :)
Wow, what a great tour! Did you visit any recoltants? Aside from the main Champagne houses, I haven't heard of the smaller ones you mentioned, so I'm asking if any of them are Recoltants or not.
As for the language barrier, I totally agree and I really can't imagine how you were there most of the time by yourself without knowing French. I mean not only because you could get a better connection with the winemakers, but also to live anywhere outside the big tourist cities. But when I was in France, even in Paris, people mostly don't want to talk to me in English tho.
Constant Lemaire, Paul Clouet, and Michel Gonet are all recoltants. So are Egly-Ouriet, Vilmart & Cie, and Marguet, but I just stopped by those places and didn't really get to tour or taste there.
For the language barrier, I definitely wish I had focused a bit more on learning more French before I went, but most of the winemakers and other staff spoke at least some English, and were fairly nice about it. I did make an effort to greet people and navigate as much as possible in French, and not just assume everyone was going to speak to me in English, and that goes a long way. I only had one encounter with someone who didn't speak any English, and we still managed to communicate about the wine - because, as I mentioned, a lot of wine words are in French anyway! My experience with traveling solo in countries that speak other languages is that when you're on your own and have no choice, you pick up a lot in a hurry :)