Champagne is served

The globally renowned and revered Maison Moët & Chandon embraces its past, turns present moments into celebrations and raises a flute to the future.

- GAVIN KIRK

Being chauffeured from The Peninsula Paris hotel to the Champagne region of France in a glass-roofed BMW is one of the biggest ‘pinch me’ moments of my 37 years. My suit-clad driver’s English was impressively reasonable; my French was embarrassingly terrible. But the one thing I did manage to discern in our exchange was his desire to whisk me around for a scenic drive through the streets of Paris before our 90-or-so minute journey to Champagne because, to quote loosely, “looking up at the buildings from the back seat is something not to be missed”. And how very right he was. Before long, the scenery changed to rolling hills among dense woodlands – something from the pages of a storybook – then marvellous rows of grapevines wrapped tight the landscape between charming farms and farmhouses.

From arrival in Champagne it takes only moments to wish you could bottle it up and slap a label on this gorgeous place. It’s somewhere that I undoubtedly will visit again, and for two reasons. Firstly, I’m a big fan of a flute of the namesake bubbly. And, secondly, I was here as a guest of the Maison Moët & Chandon – on a tightly curated schedule to experience the magic of the legendary Champagne house, its Orangerie and the newly renovated Château de Saran in Épernay, a grand, multimillion-euro gesture to mark the 150th year of its flagship Moët Impérial Brut Champagne.