Aÿ Champagne

Anybody who knows a little bit about Champagne will tell you that the places to find good champagne houses are Reims and Epernay – and they are – but unless you've done some serious research or you're prepared to really hunt for what you want, you might end up paying more than you need to for a name you've heard of. Wouldn't it be far more exciting to come home with a case of something delicious that you can't buy anywhere else – and definitely not in the supermarket? Ay is one of the places where you might find it. The house of Gosset, for example, has been producing still wine since 1584 – much longer than Ruinart, the oldest actual Champagne house – but they make the fizzy stuff now, too. Even the Romans knew Ay as a great wine producer, and Pliny the Elder mentioned it fondly in his writings. It wasn't a Medieval fortress or even a junction between two Roman roads – just a stretch of top notch vineyard – and it still is.