Despite the UK’s enthusiasm for champagne, making it the best market by far outside France itself, British supermarkets have had to admit defeat when it comes to competing with French outlets: they simply cannot expect to sell champagne in sufficient quantity to maximise their usual bulk purchase power.

For this reason, vintage champagne remains an excellent buy in France itself, both at the hypermarkets who order even top-range Moët in large numbers to cater for their domestic market, and in areas of France that specialise in champagne.

The most accessible of these is Champagne-Ardennes, which now has a TGV station at Bézanne, about five kilometres south of Rheims. The daily service from Lille, an easy connection on the Eurostar route, takes 1 hour 25 minutes, or for those heading to Disneyland and find the need to escape, it is just 30 minutes by TGV from Marne-la-Vallée for an excellent day out.

In and around Rheims and Epernay excellent champagnes, with brands largely unknown and unsold in the UK, are available at £10 a bottle and sometimes less as special deals. The C Comme Champagne supermarket in Epernay specialises in half bottles, with prices starting at the equivalent of £5 each.

For those returning by car from a villa holiday within reach of Calais and looking to take a crate or two home, the liquor stores specialising in quality wine and champagne often display lower prices than the hypermarkets. La Grand Boutique de Vin has several superb champagnes that cannot be found on the UK side of the Channel. 

 From our April 2008 e-newsletter