Clément Pierlot knows his bubblies. So the chef de cave of champagne maison Pommery should. The house’s cellar master is responsible for what we are trying in the VIP tasting room at Domaine Pommery, in the French city of Reims, unofficial capital of the Champagne wine region and a short bullet train ride from Paris.

But it’s the manner in which he summarily dismisses the non-vintage brut cuvée – Pommery’s crowd-pleaser for punters, not connoisseurs – that confirms this. To the untrained palate, it’s a beaut. The fizz in the glass is beading nicely.