Tank 27 - Champagne Boizel

Champagne Boizel, Avenue de Champagne, Épernay

Today I put my new found French driving skills to the test and took myself out to Épernay in my cute little Fiat. It's lucky I've got a European car at home in New Zealand because it felt familiar straight away. It's about 35 minutes out of Reims and I loved winding through all the little villages on the way, no wrong turns, no drama, just me, the Fiat and vines on every side.

I'd booked a tasting at Champagne Boizel because my friend Alina works there. Alina and I picked side by side in the vines at Marc Chauvet during vintage and became really close, so getting to see her in her own setting, standing beside a big map of the Champagne vineyards and taking our group through the house, was something special.

Boizel goes right back to 1834. It was founded by a young married couple, Auguste Boizel and Julie Martin, who were originally pastry chefs. Julie's family had been growing grapes in Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ for generations, so the vines came with her, and they named the house after both of them, Boizel-Martin, which was very unusual for the time. They were also among the first in Champagne to put a label on their bottles. Down in the cellars there's an old wooden bench covered in metal stencils spelling out BOIZEL and CHAMPAGNE, from the days when everything was marked by hand. Six generations on, the house is run by two brothers, Florent and Lionel Roques-Boizel. The family says Boizel has always been run by two pairs of hands rather than one, with the women playing an equal role to the men, and I love that.

Out the front are the old Boizel vans. They call them their “models” because they used to carry the wine around. They're just a bit old now, but they're gorgeous and of course we had to have our photos taken with them.

Inside the winery I came across tank 27, a big stainless steel tank with “PN Rilly-la-Montagne 1er Cru” chalked on its little blackboard. That's Pinot Noir from Rilly, the village I lived in for vintage, and it was a tank we pressed off at Marc Chauvet for Boizel back in August. Standing in Épernay looking at juice I'd helped press was a full circle moment and it was quite fun. It also shows how Champagne works. Boizel owns about seven hectares of its own vines, so like most houses it buys grapes and juice from growers right across the region, and small family growers like the Chauvets are a big part of that story.

Something I've noticed in every cellar I've been into, Bollinger, Veuve Clicquot and now Boizel, is the same yellow lighting. At first I thought Veuve Clicquot had done their cellars in yellow to match their labels, but that's a lucky shot for them. The real reason is to protect the wine. Champagne spends years ageing in glass, and UV and blue light can cause something called light strike, which gives off flavours a bit like cooked cabbage or wet cardboard. Warm amber light doesn't carry those wavelengths, so every house ends up with the same golden glow underground. It's a handy one to know at home too, keep your bubbles out of bright light.

At the end Alina poured two Champagnes for the group, their vintage, I think the 2013, and their rosé. My favourite was the vintage. Alina was excellent and so professional, even though we had a little laugh because I knew she wanted to be a bit crazy. She's a lot of fun, but with a group in front of her she had to keep it together.

I couldn't leave without a bottle. I chose La Montagne, their Premier Cru Blanc de Noirs, made only from Pinot Noir grown on the Montagne de Reims. Blanc de Noirs means white from black. Pinot Noir juice is clear and the colour only comes from the skins, so a gentle press keeps the wine pale gold. It came as a limited edition with a silk scarf featuring artwork by local artist Marie-Victoire Poliakoff, and every time I wear it, it will remind me of Alina. I'm going to try and fit the whole thing in my suitcase, or at least take the box apart and keep the signature.

Monday was the middle of three big Champagne days, Veuve Clicquot and Pommery on the Sunday, Boizel on the Monday and the Bollinger Pinot Noir masterclass in Aÿ on the Tuesday. It was exhausting, rewarding and I loved every minute of it.