The French hotspot everyone should visit at least once in their life

Two fans of the fizz embark on a self-guided tour to taste as many cuvees as possible - by bicycle. What could possibly go wrong?

My wife and I hatched this plan over - not surprisingly - a glass or two of the fizzy stuff back home. While sipping a delicious Laurent-Perrier Rosé we studied the excellent BnB Epernay website produced by locals Sarah and Romain, who also offer apartments for rent. Finding information about the region is harder than you think but their blog is smart, easy to read, accurate and helpful.

We drew up a list of five champagne vineyards or "houses" we thought we could hit in two days. Put the bikes on the train here, cycle here, taste, enjoy, repeat. Sorted.

Not sorted. By mid-afternoon on the first day we were hopelessly behind schedule, having ticked off just one: Canard-Duchene, where we had a truly excellent cellar tour and tasting.

Caught up in the moment and thrilled by the showroom's wall of champagne, we over-indulged, bought more glasses from the bar and then two bottles to go, and "accidentally" drank one in a field near a neighbouring vineyard.

We were in champagne heaven, lying in cool grass under a warm sun and enjoying a heady buzz among the very grapes it is made from. Nothing mattered, not even the fact that I rested my head on my backpack and caused the camembert inside to spread itself across much of the interior. We drank from our plastic, Eiffel Tower champagne flutes (classy!) and toasted France with every mouthful.

You need to book tours at nearly all the champagne houses so I had to call and cancel the ones we had reserved but wouldn't now get to because we were miles away and horizontal in a field. It was a revelation to discover I was better at speaking French after a bottle of champagne than before. At least I thought I was.

We wobbled our e-bikes (ed's note: dear readers, we don't recommend you try this at home - nor France) back along the D26 road to the sleepy train station at Rilly-la-Montagne, with only one of us temporarily transgressing into a ditch. From here we caught the little country train south to Epernay, one of the two commercial centres of Champagne, the other being Reims.

They welcome bikes on the train but you need to pay just a euro or two extra when booking online. They are not so welcoming of bags reeking of camembert, however, so at Avenay train station I was on my knees on the platform scraping pungent cheese from my backpack.

Cleansed - sort of - we headed into town and found a bar called Le 19 Avenue de Champagne. It was established by a collective of 100 smaller champagne makers to showcase their produce and boasts a prodigious collection of lesser-known, underdog brands, not one of which we recognised.

It was a thrilling taste discovery: some were subtle, others so full of fruit and bubbles they hit you like a thunderbolt. One had a faint aroma of roses, another was smoky and honeyed, while a third was deliciously toasty.

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Day Two dawned dull and misty - outside and inside our heads - but a smorgasbord of homemade croissants, madeleines and pains au chocolat plus gallons of coffee prepared us for another day in the saddle.

By late morning we were cruising through the delightful old village of Ay, north-east of Epernay, en route to the Ayala vineyard.

We explored Ayala's cellars, gazed over the vineyards from the production-house roof and entered its space-age factory for a generous tasting of four stunning cuvees, including a sugar-free "nature", which was bursting with flavour.

From Ayala we cycled part of the Marne Veloroute, a beautiful path that hugs the Marne river and its canal. Then, somewhere near the appropriately named town of Dizy, we paused, lay down on the grass embankment and fell asleep.

Canard-Duchene: Liberte (Freedom) Tour includes a great cellar tour plus two glasses of champagne for 28 euros ($45) per person. See canard-duchene.fr

Ayala: Ayala Experience is a 1.5-hour cellar tour, plus tasting of four champagnes for 60 euros per person. See champagne-ayala.fr.

Getting there: Reims - widely considered to be the unofficial capital of the Champagne wine-growing region - is 144 kilometres north-east of Paris, which is about a one-hour-and-20-minute train journey. The TGV fast train goes from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to Reims.

Staying there: For a bit of real class, check out the charming Hostellerie Briqueterie & Spa near Epernay. A collection of 40 rooms and suites, it blends timeless elegance with modern comforts. Rooms are from 244 euros ($410) per night in August. Also, explore the BnB Epernay apartments and holiday house. See briqueteriechampagne.com; bnbepernay.com

Eating there: Brasserie La Banque in Epernay has a mind-boggling menu of champagnes and serves fabulous food including 37 euro set menus. See brasserie-labanque.fr

Explore more: The best website to help plan your visit is bnbepernay.com. They can help rent bikes and e-bikes too.

The writer travelled at his own expense.