An expatriate has spoken to the Telegraph about his journey to become France’s first dedicated champagne professor.

Stephen Charters, originally from the UK, is the chair of champagne management at Reims management school after studying for a masters degree at the Institute of Wine in Australia and a PhD.

After teaching wine studies at a university in Perth, Professor Charters was offered the newly created academic post at Reims, in the heart of champagne country, the newspaper said.

The school and several leading champagne houses decided to create the post in 2007 specifically dedicated to the tipple.

Of his new home, Prof Charters told the paper: "It’s a great place to be for my line of work, we have a high standard of living and I think the economy at the moment is so much more stable than Britain’s.

"The only thing I would change about my job would to be to have champagne produced in Montpellier down south – the climate here’s no better than Britain."

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