Readers of this blog will know how much I like champagne. Finding one for under $20 is a challenge, but shift it to under 20 euros (which still works with the name) and things become easier.

We were in France to celebrate the marriage of my niece, and it was our honour to supply the champagne. Planning ahead I’d decided to visit Reims and find a brilliant, but as yet undiscovered boutique champagne house. Things didn’t quite go according to plan.

First mistake, arriving on a Sunday. The French are very civilized about their Sundays. You might find a boulangerie open, or a supermarket on the outside of town, but generally, shops and restaurants remain closed. Doubly so in August, when the nation goes on holiday. Fortunately Taittinger, being a commercially minded company, was open so we decided to take a cellar tour and get some champagne there.

The tour took us into the chalk cellars which were originally dug in Gallo-Roman times, as the chalk was used in road construction. 1000 years later they were uncovered by Benedictine monks who started to use them for maturing wine (bless them). Being 60 feet underground the cellars remain at a constant 10 degrees with a humidity of 90% –  perfect conditions for the task. While it was a bit damp and chilly I found myself imagining getting trapped and having to end my days living off several million bottles of Taittinger’s finest, the Comtes de Champagne. What a way to go.

Legend has it that Theobald the 1^stof Navarre, who was also Count of Champagne brought the chardonnay vine to France from his crusading in the Holy Land. He is celebrated by Taittinger as the icon on their top drop, Comtes de Champagne, of which the literary 007 was a fan (on film he switched to Bollinger).

I would like to be the sort of uncle who gives his niece Comte de Champagne, but instead, I was the uncle who went for two magnums of the Rose Brut, a full flavoured drop with a touch of romance – strawberries, salt and blood on the palate. Clearly that wasn’t going to be enough, but there was no room in the car, honest.

A few days later we were in the local Intermarche supermarket, adding to the champagne stocks. They had quite a range, some of which were under 20 euros; Piper Heidseick, the Toyota Camry of champagnes; Heidseick Monopole, less famous, but to my taste, a better drop; Nicholas Feuillatte (available here for $60) which gets an honourable mention in Guide Hachette, and some unheard of thing that was on a AUPUG (French equivalent of BOGOF).

Our decision was made for us; as they only had five bottles of each we took five bottles of each and wedding doubled as a champagne tasting. Or at least, it started that way. None of them was bad, but the Piper was the least interesting, the Monopole a step up, the Feuillatte the most refined and the AUPUG had the most flavor. Shame I can’t remember what it was called. That said, after two hours of drinking champagne with people you love, on a hot day in the French countryside it really didn’t matter which bottle we popped.

Beyond champagne we had a couple of good clarets: Ch Potensac 2012, Ch Citran 2011. Both about 15 euro. However, the stand out was Chateau Lanessan, 2011 brought by a friend and I’m sure it was more than 20 euro. Yum.

We came home via Vietnam and life became a beer tasting. Bia Hanoi impressed, a light lager perfect for 32 degrees and lots of humidity. Biere Larue, proudly founded in 1909 by the French (odd that they mention it) and called Tiger beer by the US troops during the war (it has a tiger on the label) tasted like damp cardboard. Saigon Special was the best though, a bit stronger and nicely balanced. All of them far too cheap.

I am now trying to stick to less than 10 standard drinks a week.