Day 3 Monday June 4, Reims: Veuve Clicquot

We checked out of our Paris hotel at 8.30 and caught our tour bus to Reims. The 2 hour journey provides everyone with another view of Paris as we drive along the Seine river on our way out of Paris. Soon we are arriving at Veuve Clicquot where we are greeted by Louise Vicq who is in charge of reception at VC. We then move on to the winery where we meet chief oenologist Philippe Thieffry.

Philippe has prepared a very educational tasting for us as we look at the 3 components of the Veuve Clicquot non vintage. We taste the Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay as still wines before tasting a blend of the 3 components. Finally we taste the finished product from a magnum. Fantastic!!

After our tasting we catch the bus to the Manoir de Verzy which is a lovely house Veuve Clicquot own in the village of Verzy. We are joined by Louise and Philippe for a fabulous lunch at the Manoir. During lunch we tried the 2004 La Grande Dame, Vintage 2004, Vintage Rose 2004, Vintage Rose 1985 and Veuve Clicquot Demi Sec. The food was fantastic and the wines were sensational.

After lunch we returned to Reims where Louise took us on a tour of the historic Veuve Clicquot cellars. This was rounded out with a glass of the 1998 La Grande Dame. What a day!!

 

 

 

Top. Tasting with chief oenologist Philippe Thieffry and below our lunch at the Manoir de Verzy.

Day 2              Sunday 3 June, Paris

Day 2 was for relaxing and sightseeing around Paris and an opportunity for some of our recently arrived guests to recover from their jet lag. The highlight of the day for many of us was a trip to the old Paris Stock exchange where the French wine magazine, La Revue du Vin de France was conducting its annual wine exhibition.

The exhibition was a treasure trove of the great wines and wine regions of France. We tasted wonderful wines from Champagne, Burgundy and Bordeaux as well as the Languedoc and the Loire. This truly was an unexpected pleasure as we were unaware of this event before we arrived in Paris. And all of this for just 19 euros.

We finished the day with some sight seeing before heading out to an exquisite dinner in the sumptuous surrounds of the Cafe de la Paix.



After more than a year I am back with a review of our 2012 Tour de Champagne. Apologies to anyone who logged on earlier in the hope of reading about this years tour. I guess that I have been a little disorganised this year after the sale of our vineyard and winery in Bendigo.

Anyway down to business.
Day 1. Saturday June 2, 2012
Tour members arrived in Paris and checked into our tour Hotel before meeting with our Paris tour bus at 10.30am. Every year we do this tour of Paris we learn something new about this beautiful city. Whilst we pass the same buildings and monuments we often do so via different streets and as we have never had the same guide twice we always get a different perspective of Paris. The 2 hour tour passed quickly and the rest of the day was free to wander around.

In the evening we all came together in the Hotel bar and toasted the start of the tour with some Taittinger non vintage champagne before heading out to dinner.

A wedding was taking place at the Eiffel Tower during our visit.

Tour De Champagne 2011

Day 10 Monday 4 July 2011
We were able to enjoy a leisurely start to the final day of the tour as we only had a short walk to our 10.00 o'clock appointment at GH Mumm, home of the Mumm Cordon Rouge. Mumm were a late inclusion on the tour and they turned on an excellent visit for our group.

After a short film on Mumm and champagne we visited the vast network of Mumm caves under the streets of Reims. From here we were shown a large display of old champagne making equipment in the Mumm museum which was facinating before we headed up to the VIP tasting room for a wonderful tasting of the Mumm range of champagnes.

VIP tasting room at GH Mumm.

The remainder of the day was free for people to explore Reims. In the evening we gathered in the foyer of the hotel before we headed of to our last group dinner at Brasserie Le Jardin at Chateau Les Crayeres. This beautiful venue was the perfect setting for our last night together. The food was fabulous, the wines were fantastic and the group was entertained by two of tour members who performed a re-working of the song My Favourite Things to now take on the words My Favourite Drink. Another tour member recited a re-working of 10 green bottles to 18 champagne tourists to much amusement. And so the night drew to a close and the tour finished on a particularly high noteas we headed back to our hotel.

Our final dinner at Basserie Le Jardin.

Champagnes tasted this day were; Mumm Cramant Blanc de Blancs NV, Mumm NV, Mumm Rene Lalou 1999 and Mumm Rose NV. With dinner we drank Veuve Clicquot 2002 and were joined by Clicquot winemaker Philippe Thieffry and his wife Laurence.

Finally I would like to thank owners and staff of Veuve Clicquot, H. Blin, H. Goutorbe, Deutz, Joseph Loriot-Pagel, Billecart-Salmon and Mumm for making the tour a resounding success. Special thanks also to Philippe and Laurence for all their assistance during the planning stages and thank you to all our tour members who made the tour a very memorable and enjoyable experience for Karen and me.

Cheers

Ian Leamon 



Day 9 Sunday 3 July 2011
We needed to be on the bus at 7.30 am for the start of our mystery tour and everyone made it on time despite a big night, the night before. As the bus driver closed the door we announced that we were off to Brussels for the day.

This involved a three hour drive and a chance to catch up on some sleep but everyone was wide awake the whole way. 11.30 and we were delivered to Grand Place in the centre of Brussels by our bus driver whos excellent driving took us down some very narrow streets before reaching the drop off point.

We had five hours to explore the centre of Brussels before returning to Reims. Maps in hand everyone split up and went their seperate ways. The Grand Place was the main focus of attention quickly followed by lunch with some of the wonderful beers of Belgium.

Some of the stunning buildings at Grand Place, Brussels.

Our time in Brussels went quickly and by 4.30 we had all rendez-vous'd with the bus for the drive back to Reims. The return trip passed quickly with Jim's CD of Scotish songs blasting away in the bus whilst we drank a few champagne travellers. A good day was had by all as we rolled off the bus in Reims at 7.30 that night.
Champagne travellers consumed on the return leg were. Deutz NV, Bollinger 2002, Jacquesson 2000, Ruinart Rose, Gosset Rose, Krug Grand Cuvee and Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs 1998.

Day 8 Saturday 2 July 2011
The weekend has arrived and with it came a free day to explore the city of Reims. Some people caught taxis out to some of the surrounding battlefields whilst others spent their time in the immediate area of the CBD. However everyone at some time during the day hit the retail outlets as the French hold their half year sales at the start of July. With discounts up to 70% off it was interesting watching our tour members get into some serious retail therapy.

In the evening we caught the bus to Monchenot where we dined at the one michelin star restaurant Le Grand Cerf. Everyone was wearing their newly acquired clothes and they all looked a million dollars as we sat down to a fabulous dinner. The evening rolled on as the food and wine continued to flow and before we new it, it was 11.30 pm and time to catch the bus back to the hotel.

Our tour group at Le Grand Cerf

A few of us who should have known better had a couple of night caps back at the hotel before going to bed. Not the best preperation for an early start the next day as we were to set off on our Mystery Tour.

Champagne tasted at the dinner; Alfred Gratien NV from Epernay and Tarllant Rose 1998

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.