Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours Autumn Champagne Extra tour in 2010: 17 - 19 October.
Our Champagne "Extra" tours feature some of the highest quality houses, a prestige cuvée tasting on the first evening, and lunch and dinner at a Champagne House or Michelin rosette restaurant. Visits to Houses such as Deutz are very special invitations indeed and only available to you as clients of Arblaster & Clarke. Numbers are restricted to just 24, so that you have plenty of space to spread out on the coach and extra space to bring back champagne and being a smaller party than our "normal" champagnes you have perhaps more opportunity to speak personally to the Wine Guide. Two fabulous gourmet meals are included too, one of which is prepared by a Michelin rosette restaurant, and both of which include generous servings of top quality champagnes.
Your Prestige Tasting: Your Wine Guide will choose a selection of prestige champagnes in order to illustrate what fabulous champagnes are like in what will be a fun and illuminating evening. Clients find this part of our tour (which is unique to A&C) one of the most enjoyable parts as it is not often that you have the chance to taste a range of champagnes in this way, in comfort, with an informative guide and with no "sales agenda" - we are not trying to promote these wines, just to give you the opportunity to enjoy some outperforming prestige champagnes, which would sell on the UK high street at over £65 a bottle (and more!)
Reims for dinner: Reims has a wealth of wonderful restaurants, brasseries and bistros from Michelin double rossette (early booking essential!) to more reasonably priced gourmet restaurants and traditional style brasseries. We provide a list of all our tried and tested ones before the trip with phone numbers, so you can book ahead if you wish. However, we will make a reseravtion at two of our favourite reasonably priced brasseries and you are very welcome to join our wine guide or tour manager for dinner.
Our first Champagne visit is yet to be confirmed, we are planning to visit the prestigious house of Krug at present.
Champagne Cattier: The family firm of Cattier based in Chigny-Les-Roses make excellent champagnes with a distinct Montagne de Reims character. The crown jewel is the single vineyard "Clos du Moulin", a complex champagne with a fine balance of pinot noir & chardonnay. This is a firm definitely ‘on the move’, quailty is ever increasing and quantity too! They now produce the historic “Maximes” brand in conjunction with Maximes of Paris.
Champagne Philipponnat: Champagne Philipponnat in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ is a relatively modern house, founded only in 1912 and now owned by Bruno Paillard. This has always been an underrated house offering good quality and excellent value. The house style is generally elegant and fresh, with plenty of easy-going fruit and a soft, smooth mousse. Philipponnat also boasts one of Champagne's greatest wines, Clos des Goisses, an intense, complex wine with strong, ripe fruit, capable of long ageing. At Champagne Philipponnat a Michelin Star restaurant will prepare a gourmet dinner for us.
Champagne Gosset: Champagne has been made by Gosset since 1584, and is the oldest producer of wine in Champagne. Previously it was a Grande Marque Champagne between 1992 and 1997 which means ‘great brand’. Gosset is a Negociant-Manipulant and has 95% of it’s vineyards on the Crus scale, with grapes from the Premier and Grand Crus villages of the Marne. Champagne Gosset retain traditional shaped bottles with a little cask fermentation used on Grande Reserve.
We are then finishing the tour in style with a Michelin star lunch before our return to London, there are more details on this to follow.
Arblaster & Clarke began escorting wine tours to the Champagne region in May 1987 and have returned 10 - 12 times every year since - so we have built up many great friendships and know the region extremely well. Over the years so many clients have travelled with us to the region and are keen to travel again, therefore we are constantly offering innovative and interesting itineraries so that those who have been before can gain a greater understanding each time they visit. This trip is perhaps particularly suitable for clients who have at least some understanding or experience of Champagne but all will be made to feel equally welcome.
Tour Itinerary:
Day 1. Depart London Victoria Coach Station; Meet Folkestone; Meet Dover. Channel crossing by ferry; Travel to Reims; Luxury Champagne Comparative tasting.
Day 2. Morning Champagne visit; Free lunchtime in Reims; Afternoon Champagne visit to Cattier;Gourmet dinner at Champagne House Philipponnat (usually prepared for us by a Michelin starred restaurant).
Day 3. Morning Champagne visit to Gosset; Michelin Star Lunch; Return Dover; Return Folkestone; Return London.
Please note visits are presently subject to confirmation from the Champagne Houses
Joining in Reims: these Champagne Weekends can be combined with an extension in Paris as the connection between the Champagne region and Paris is very good. For example, Reims is just 45 minutes from Paris by train (TGV).
Travel: Ferry to Dover in Club Class
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
- Sole Occupancy: £95.00
- Deposit: £150.00
- Room Upgrade: Included.
This tour is not suitable for children.
Also see tour packages in:
Europe
France
Local Culture
Food & Wine
Cultural Journey
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