Champagne. The beverage is sparkling but the location is flat. Both are lovely. I had the great fortune to be part of a band of English retailers and wine merchants to visit Reims at the behest of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) to visit Veuve Clicquot and Krug. Our first meal in France after nipping over from London on the Eurostar was at a bistro in Reims. It was a family run business - opulent in a fallen-grandeur, fin de siècle sort of a way. Every table was full with affluent locals who, without exception, were nursing open bottles of champagne in coolers. Our waiter was a very French looking, corpulent 50-something who I presumed was the patriarch of the establishment. I followed his recommendations implicitly. As such my entrée consisted of plain white toast, little ... read more