REIMS, France — Daybreak is just before 6 a.m. this time of year. As the sun rises, it splinters through the windows lining the two towers of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims, where at least 25 French kings were crowned through the centuries.
The Coronation City, where Joan of Arc led Charles VII through enemy forces to liberate the French from the English nearly 600 years ago, is in champagne country, where the Iron Ladies of Champagne were among France's first businesswomen, whose innovations and inventions more than 100 years ago created the bubbly brut drink so well-loved around the world today.