The Observer

Initially unimpressed by the drab surroundings at Maison Krug ('just a yard, cellar and offices'), LYNN BARBER relents after getting stuck into a trio of vintages with lunch. The 1989 is 'completely different to any Champagne I have ever tasted'. The 1988 and 1990 also meet with Barber's approval, but things turn nasty when she asks Rmi Krug if he watched Sideways. He says he is 'fed up' with 'California back-label syndrome': 'It started in the late 1980s in the US people being obsessed with types of grapes, percentage of this, percentage of that. It's like if you talk about Mozart and say it is x per cent cello and y per cent violin. Pah!'