Champagne and you" festival

Envie de Champ met Marie-Jo Pierron (champagne Alain Mercier), co-president with Olivier Belin (champagne Belin), of the association "Ambassadeurs du terroir et du tourisme en Vallée de Marne", which organizes the festival.

Marie-Jo Pierron, it can't be easy to organize a festival in the current health climate?

We wanted to work on a positive note. If we go ahead with the event, we'll do so under optimum conditions, with no reservations and no restrictions. We don't want to take any risks for our volunteers, our winemakers, and obviously not for our visitors.

How many volunteers work on "Champagne & vous"?

Between those who work behind the scenes of the festival and those who are on site, there are about a hundred volunteers. There are those who tinker, who paint, who put up posters, who decorate the town's traffic circles, the tables, the stands, the streets ....There's a real emulsion around the festival, with everyone contributing their skills.

How many visitors does the festival welcome on average each year?

We average 3,000 visitors over the weekend.Usually, it's tourists of all nationalities who come to discover our champagnes.The locals, for the most part, already know them well. But we hope they'll want to come this year too.

What kind of events will be on offer?

There's the winegrowers' village, where the 12 winegrowers from the Marne Valley will be tasting 3 of their vintages, along with producers of local produce.There will be plenty of wine-related activities, of course, including a workshop on pruning, riddling and old-fashioned disgorging.

Who is the "Ambassadeurs du terroir et du tourisme en Vallée de Marne" association, organizer of the event?

There are 11 of us in the office, divided into several departments.Each of us is responsible for a bubble with a clearly defined role. I'm co-president with OlivierBelin , but I'm also in charge of communications.There's a "catering" bubble on site, a bubble for all the food trades like cheesemakers, foie gras producers , etc., a treasury bubble, an entertainment bubble, a secretarial bubble, and a "technical" bubble.What we really want to do with the "Ambassadeurs du terroir et du tourisme en Vallée de Marne" association is to promote the region and the richness of our champagnes.
We organize several events during the summer, such as the ephemeral bar on the banks of the Marne, with two winemakers offering two champagne-based cocktails each time.We want to show that champagne can be modernized and revitalized.We also take part in the Printemps des Champagnes, "Champagne for you" in April.We have a great dynamic in common. We share a love of work, values and ideas, which is very important, and we've created some great friendships within the association.

The full program can be found on the festival website