Last year was the first in which France exported more champagne than it sold
within its borders, but that’s no excuse to stay put and wait for the
world’s best wine to come to us: France still keeps much of its most
interesting wine for itself.
The British market for champagne is both big and anomalous. Outside France,
Britain drinks more champagne than any other country, getting through nearly
twice as many bottles as its nearest rival, the USA.
What makes the UK unusual is that supermarkets dominate wine sales and,
according to producers, their demand for big brands at knock-down prices
saddles us with an uninspiring range of champagnes.
Many British customers are content with an infrequent bottle of Moët on
special occasions, but more adventurous wine drinkers can heading to France
to broaden their horizons. French wine sellers have noticed a change in
their British clientele, who no longer consist entirely of bargain-hunting
booze cruisers.
“We opened our store in Calais in 1993, at the start of the cross-border
traffic, and we had many British people coming there to buy very cheap
wine,” Daisy Bras, of CPH La Grande Boutique du Vin, says. “It was a cheap
market and they bought it by the tank.
“Now we have noticed that people are ready to pay the same price that they pay
in the UK, but they want to offer wines that cannot be found in the UK,"
she says. "They want to impress their guests.”
Both reasons to cross the Channel – excellent value for money and a huge range
of choice – are magnified yet further if you're in the market for a bottle
or two of bubbly. In the Champagne-Ardennes region of France, now just 45
minutes from Paris by TGV, hundreds of champagne houses sell their wares
amid the jealously guarded terroir – the unique combination of soil
and climate that gives the wine its flavour and mystique.
The big brands are here, but so are many little-known names, many of whom
offer top-quality wines at prices uninflated by marketing costs. Entry level
bottles can be had for about £10, and some stores, such as C Comme Champagne
in Epernay, sell a wide range of half bottle starting at a fiver, at which
price you can afford to be a bit experimental.
The people of Champagne are proud of what they produce, and many will offer
copious advice and assistance as you struggle to make up your mind.
Champagne producers and merchants are often happy to offer tours and
tastings by arrangement.
NEED TO KNOW
How to get there
Rail Europe (www.raileurope.co.uk)
sells tickets for both Eurostar and French rail services. Standard class
tickets from London St Pancras to Reims, in Champagne-Ardennes, on Eurostar
and the TGV are available from £79 return, if your dates are flexible enough
to match the cheapest trains.
