A trip to champagne, in photographs

Chateau de Rilly, Rilly-la-Montagne. A lovely spot to stay and explore the region from

Lobster sarnie in a local one star Michelin in Ay. 

The champagne lunch menu. All local/grower champagnes

Roger Brun's English export Champagne. As drunk in barracks!

Phillipe Brun offers wonderful local/grower Champagnes at his Cave

Well worth a visit to Roger/Phillipe Brun's Cave in Rilly 

Just some of the millions of champagne bottles ageing at Moet

And a few more. 28kms of tunnels, many dug by hand in the 19th Century

The world's largest wine barrel in the foyer at Mercier

A reconstruction of how it used to be at Mercier 

Classy display of ageing champagne bottles in Mercier's 18kms of cellars 

No words needed here 

Starting a tasting before dinner in the vault/cellar at Mercier 

I can't talk enough how about how good their champagne is. Stunning. 

Birthday dinner in the Mercier vault/cellar. 30 metres underground. Wow. 

Dinner, all with Mercier's best champagnes. Who says
you can't have white/rose with beef?

Reims Catherdral, nearby. Gorgeous

Joseph Perrier 1990 (champagne)

What a champagne this is.

It's a real vintage find.

And at around £60-70 a bottle it's a steal for what it is.

Not your everyday quaffing champers for sure but as a special treat, Fine and Rare can secure a bottle easily, I am told.

I had it prior to the recent Calon Segur vertical 'tasting' I took part in during December.

Aged champagne is not an area I know much about but boy has Joseph Perrier 1990 aged well.

It's dry, I want to say nutty, not musty like a well ageing red but you can taste the age and see it in the darker colour.

Attempted descriptions aside, it's well worth sampling. Yum.