The wrath of the grape: it only took a few hours to reach a bubbly haze and reach the heights of felicity after only three glasses of champagne. (large glasses). The word heathen comes to mind but for those appreciating the finer wines and champagnes, I promise it did touch the sides on entry.

Well, surprise, surprise it was raining in Reims all weekend, so anchoring ourselves to the bar all night was the only way to go.  After being stewarded into the hotel lounge for a champagne tasting session within our groups, we decided to inject some humour and repartee into the debate. We were tasked with tasting a number of champagnes in order and detailing the grape type content; eg chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, characteristics of taste, and as a result we had to guess the year.  After the full hour, to be honest mine tasted of ‘old mans scabs’ so I promptly proceeded to the bar for a beer. For those that don’t know, this is not the Northern in me, but is actually a great pallet cleanser in between tasting intervals.

We took a bus to Paris on the way back, and as I was too ill to get on the plane, I decided to relegate myself to obscurity and find a me the best, chic boutique paris hotels to lay my weary, spinning head. Unfortunately, the mini bar got the better of me and it wasn’t long before I was mixing my drinks with the 12 bottles I had bought from one of the coolest vineyards in Reims.  It was run by two brothers and their family, from a small garage/winery, and everything was small scale, riddling was manual and the final stage of capping the bottle with sugar for the demi-sec was skillfully performed in front of us, without spilling drop. As we departed their stock had depleted somewhat, and I read later in the local newspaper that they had to draft in second cousins, extended family to replenish and fill the empty wine racks.

I still believe in the old adage, ‘drink for the thirst to come’, but my advice if you’re travelling to Reims is – drink slowly, spit out during the tasting sessions and you are guaranteed to remember more, enjoy more, and appreciate the finer points of Champagne making.