After leaving Dieppe, we stopped for a couple of days in Eperney. This is a small town about 30Km south of Reims whose only real reason for existence is Champagne. Out of the multitude of Champagne houses, we visited Moet et Chandon and Castellane.

After much tasting, we decided that Vintage was definately the way forwards. For those that don't know, Champagne is normally a blend of a number of different years - that's how they keep the same taste every year. It's a bit like a blended whisky in that respect. Every so often though, a year is good enought to stand on its own and then that year is declared a vintage year. Champagne from that year is not blended and so carries a year designation on the bottle. It also is allowed to mature for a further 2 years before being sold. The most recent vintage for sale is currently 1999.

Champage is really quite like whisky in a number of ways. It matures in the bottle in the cellars because of the yeast sediment in the bottle. As long as the sediment is there, the wine will continue to age and improve. As soon as it is removed though (which is done before sale of course), the wine stops aging and will not get any better. This means that if you buy a 1999 vintage now, there is no point keeping it because it will not get any better with age - in fact it will only get worse. When you see the older vintages for sale, they will have been kept in the Chapagne House celler until recently with the sediment still in the bottle. Like I alluded to earlier, this is just like whisky. When a whisky is bottled it stops aging - so if you buy a 10 year old bottle now and keep it 10 years ... it will still be a 10 year old whisky. The age reflects the time it spent in the cask and not the time in the bottle.