The tasting for 12 experts in Rheims (near where my good friends live) featured the 1825 vintage which all agreed was delicious.

184 years old!

I don't like champagne (cat's piss) but cherish a trip I made round the cellars of friends of the aforementioned friends some years ago. At the end we sat down and they opened a chilled bottle of the 1944 vintage - the year of my birth (discovered through subterfuge beforehand).

It was delicious and had added piquancy coming from the year I was born.

Lovely people. My friend (now retired) worked in the factory that made and placed the labels on all the bottles. He showed me the huge album with every label inside, going back centuries. Fascinating.