(Wine-searcher) - Over lunch with Moët’s chef de cave Benoît Gouez, Tom Jarvis rekindled an old flame.

I have to admit that I have tasted or drunk very little Moët & Chandon – vintage or non-vintage – during my two decades in the wine trade, despite (or perhaps because of) its responsibility for around 7 percent of production from the Champagne region.

My career began in the mid 1990s, at a specialist wine chain where Moët was sold but rarely championed by the staff, most of whom were young and enthusiastic and tended to have "firmly held" preferences, especially where bigger brands were concerned. And the view of various critics and wine writers would seem to bear out my recollection that, at this time, quality was perhaps not quite at the level it is now. More recently I worked for an independent merchant where we shied away from the big marques, at least partly to avoid potential discounting wars involving large multiples and supermarkets.