As usual Michel Chapoutier is first out of the traps to show the latest vintage from the Rhône Valley, shared with many a revealing and sometimes indiscreet aperçu. Sipping his Bollinger at Home House in May, he declared that this first tasting of the new vintage in London is now officially a tradition. His enthusiasm for champagne was justified by a reference to Jefferson’s having rated two or three champagnes ‘even higher than white Hermitage’. (I must confess that the older I get, the more I admire a good Hermitage Blanc.)
According to Chapoutier, who as the Rhône representative on...