Champagne – is small beautiful?

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One of the attractions of the new private members' club 67 Pall Mall is presumably its programme of wine tastings, directed by founder Grant Ashton and head of wine Ronan Sayburn, both of them genuine wine lovers. 

I am not a member but was invited to their recent assemblage of champagne growers that struck me as a sensible theme. Many of those who care about champagne, in the US and UK anyway, are rather intrigued by the recent rise in popularity of champagnes from smallholders rather than the big houses that dominated the champagne scene for so long – even...