Though this strategy works better in Japan, it did not fly here. You need a wine distributor friend to contact the specific champagne house for you like 6 months ahead of time to get a tour most anywhere. We had the most giant room I had ever seen. It almost did not make sense that anyone would need this much space. I feel like the use of space here in the entire hotel was a little off. I liked this alien blob of a blanket though, you just jump into it and it envelops you like a macrophage. It was like staying in that weird futuristic hotel in that Woody Allan spaceship movie Sleeper.
The inside patio area had various sets of living rooms with sofas and just an odd mix of mid-century modern with ultra modern furniture. The first impression of such a room looks pleasing to the eye, but when you get up close and you see the Ikea smoked glass mirrored walls for the closet and bathroom, it looks kind of tacky. There was a whole other living room area in our room for drunken guests I assume, that had a weird low lying amoeba couch.
Just bad feng shui and an inefficient use of space. Again, I really hate to be negative on my blog and I really wanted to like this place, but the taste level in decor was just a little off. The food, on the other hand, was spot on. The pre-binge photo which will contrast greatly with the post-binge hung over sleepwalking photo at the end. We started off with an excellent couple of aperitifs.
They had some very rare types of champagne that were not just the typical Blanc de Blancs, but grape varieties I had never heard of before, that you can only find here at smaller wineries in the Champagne region.
I really enjoyed the wine pairings here. I had the Charles Heidsieck rose Millesime to start. This was a 94 pointer from not only James Suckling but also Robert Parker. Here was the review that most resonated with me. This really dances, leaving a trail of red berry fruits in its wake, through to a long, pure and fresh, spicy finish. It is basically taking the regional peasant food of a cabbage and pork hotpot and elevating it to the next level.
