Caroline Fiot in the garden of Champagne Ruinart, where she is a winemaker Oddly, until last week I had never visited Ruinart in Reims. It’s not as well known as its three main stablemates in the Moët Hennessy group (Moët et Chandon, Veuve Clicquot and Krug), nor one of the best known of the big names generally, but it is the oldest Champagne house (founded by Nicolas Ruinart in 1729) and I’ve always had a soft-spot for the impeccable fruit and purity of its Chardonnay-led st

I first met Emma Rice when she was the editor of the second edition of my book Discovering Wine. She went on to become one of the UK's first graduates of the new BSc (Hons) in Viticulture & Oenology at Plumpton College, Sussex in 2006. Now she's head winemaker of English sparkling wine producer Hattingley Valley and was UK Winemaker of the Year in both 2014 and 2016. This article first appeared in Waitrose Drinks magazine. Q: How old were you when you went to Plumpton? A: 28.