Rural France Supplement
Sparkling
Champagn
and not just the bubbles
Essoyes, Renoir’ s Village
London is officially the Champagne capital of the world, with Britain just declared the biggest importer of Champagne. For the first time, the consumption of white wine will overtake red on these tipsy isles. With that in mind, a visit to the homeland of the world’ s best bubbles is called for – both to celebrate the news and to see whether Champagne, as a region, can seduce us with more than bubbles. By Lisa Gerard-Sharp
At first sight, my mission looks as flat and featureless as the landscape across the Channel. Champagne’ s fortunes seem to be reversed on this side of the Channel. Champagne sales are used as a barometer of French health and happiness: in 2013 the omens aren’ t good, with a five percent fall considered the greatest indictment of Francois Hollande’ s presidency so far.
24 | EuroTravel