Where are the Rapaljes?: Grevenmacher, Luxembourg: A Travel Recommendation

With friends in from London over the weekend, we decided to explore a new city, Grevenmacher, Luxembourg. I read a few things about it in our Luxembourg travel book, as well as the Panther Paws, so we decided to give it a go. Turns out, the city is closer than we thought, only 18 km from Trier, and a perfectly cute, close place to take visitors! The town itself is nothing too different than the German villages along the Mosel. It too sits on the Mosel River, has a walkplatz with a little shopping and eating (that closes in the late afternoon - after lunch/before dinner - FYI - we learned the hard way!).

The town boasts many family run wineries, but also a famous Champagne/Sekt House and cellar (Bernard Massard) as well as a large Wine Tasting House along the Route de Vin with many local wines.

We were hoping to taste as both the Bernard Massard and Route de Vin house, but we only had time for one and we chose the Bernard Massard! The cellars, tour, tasting, wine-making process, all happen in this enormous pink house that sits right on the Mosel. There is a picturesque terrace covered with flowers where at the end of your tour, sit and taste the Sekt(s) of your choice. After visiting the Champagne Region of France only recently, I had relatively low expectations of the tour in Grevenmacher (only because we had seen 'the best of the best'), however I was very pleasantly surprised. Not only did the Sekt itself compare to the much celebrated and grossly overpriced Champagne in France, but the tour itself was informative (one can really grasp the process of sparkling wine making after this), the tour-guide easily understood (not the case in Champagne), the price affordable (we all 4 went in Luxembourg for the price of only ONE in Champagne), the staff friendly and helpful, the Bernard Massard House gorgeous, and you were able to PICK the Sekts you wanted to try at the end (you paid for a tasting of 1-3 flutes and then were able to choose which Sekts you actually tried). The ONLY area Bernard Massard failed to compare were the actual cellars. The champagne cellars in France were dark, but picturesque, lit only by candles and dim lights, obviously displayed for tourists, while the cellars at B.M. were painted white, with the wine still sitting in the metal palettes and obviously left as is for practicality purposes.

Overall, it was a great afternoon trip, we would definitely go back and recommend for others to visit as well, especially those living or visiting Trier and/or Luxembourg (We might be taking Jesse & Shannon there when they visit in December!). Also, we wound up coming home with three cases of Sekt (enough to last for a little while at least!) and will continue to buy Bernard Massard in the grocery store here!