Two big Champagne houses in one day in Reims. Down into the Veuve Clicquot chalk cellars, the story of Madame Clicquot, a tasting of four Champagnes and the whisper of Champagne, then lunch under the trees and a very commercial visit to Pommery.

A bike ride from Saumur to Chinon through Souzay-Champigny, Parnay, Turquant and Montsoreau, past tuffeau caves and cliff houses, then sparkling Touraine at La Cave Voltaire and a Montlouis Chenin at La Cabane à Vin, where I got corrected on how to say Chenin and Chinon.

Four days in Saumur during the Saumur Loire Festival, which only comes round every two years, learning why Saumur crémant can taste so like Champagne, sunset boat trips on the Loire with new friends from an Orléans sailing club, and one of the best meals of the trip at Le Boeuf.

A day out from Angers to Savennières just after harvest, learning about slate, low yields and Chenin with Antoine at Domaine du Closel, a glass of water and a chat with Janette and her friend Danielle, then a bus driver who stopped for a wink on the corner.

A missed stop at Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, an unplanned trip to Strasbourg and a 120 euro new ticket, then a day getting to know Angers, finding Les Joues Rouges, Delphine's warm little restaurant only a week old, and learning why everyone in the Loire says "of course" it's Chenin or Cabernet Franc.

A back roads ride through harvest villages to Domaine David Duband to see old Pegasus Bay colleagues Luca and Eric, foot stomping grapes the traditional way, foulage au pied, before cycling home between Premier Cru and Grand Cru vines with a long held idea about NV Wines tours to Champagne and Burgundy coming back into focus.

A day picking premier cru grapes in Rilly-la-Montagne, working the rows with a crew from all over Europe, and starting to feel like part of the Marc Chauvet family.

Filling buckets with premier cru grapes, working the rows with an international harvest crew, and the secateurs saga that became the joke of the day.

Landing in Paris, a solar eclipse watched in a field with new friends, then straight into the vines within 24 hours of touching down. Low trained vines, chalk soil, forty degree afternoons, fast friendships, a tattoo in the works, and a shift into the winery where quality always beats shortcuts.

Kicking off the trip to Champagne with a Sydney stopover, Laurent Perrier to toast the journey, corn fritters and birthday bubbles for Libby, marshmallows by the fire with old friends, and a proper little tour of Australian wine before flying on to Paris.