Day 7 Friday July 1 2011
Today is our last day in Ay and as we checked out of Castel Jeanson and boarded the bus we were given a very fond farewell from the Goutorbe family who had looked after us so well, once again.

Our farewell trip was but a short one as we only travelled 5 minutes up the road to Mareuil sur Ay where we visited Billecart-Salmon. Billecart-Salmon gave us a very warm welcome and we set of on our tour with Claudia. Claudia firstly showed us the Clos Ste Hilaire vineyard behind the winery and spoke about what defined a clos.

Next was the barrel room where we could see the use of new barrels in the Billecart champagnes especially with regard to the red wine used in Rose production and also some of their Cuvee Prestige wines.
 From here we went down into the caves where we saw some tirage bottling as well as disgorging and labelling. It was wonderful to see so much activity and to get so much exposure to the bottling and labelling process.

After the tour we returned to the reception area where we were offered an excellent tasting of Billecart champagnes.

A line up of Billecart-Salmon champagne

After leaving Billecart we headed up to Reims which will be our base for the next four days. After lunch we met up with Andre who took us on an excellent walking tour of Reims where he explained the significance of the Cathedral for the coronation of the Kings of France as well showing us Roman ruins and other significant sites.

The day was capped off with dinner at the Brasserie Boulingrin where we were joined by Veuve Clicquot winemaker Philippe Thieffry and his wife Laurence.

Wines tasted today were; Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs NV, Billecart Extra Brut (non dosage), Blanc de Blancs 1999. Diebolt Blanc de Blancs NV from Cramant and Veuve Clicquot Cuvee Riche 2002.