Can Champagne make good still wine?

Camille 2018 bottles from Louis Roederer

Coteaux Champenois inspected, if not uniformly enjoyed.

As I do every now and then, I took part in a tasting organised by the The World of Fine Wine magazine. It is such a rare pleasure to be able to taste blind that I am usually delighted to participate (and was very, very sorry that I could not attend this truly great tasting of vintage ports last September because I was in quarantine).

Last November, during one of London’s too-rare breaks between lockdowns, I was one of the tasters of 50 samples of Coteaux Champenois, the still wines of Champagne. In...