Champagne Weekends
Champagne Remueur
Champagne Decanter
An A&C Champagne Weekend – educational and fun
Champagne is the closest vineyard region to the UK and the nearest great vineyard to Paris, so our Champagne wine tour makes a great wine weekend.
Arblaster & Clarke’s very first wine tour was to Champagne back in 1987, and our fun, yet informative formula was utterly original then and has actually changed little over the years. The aim is to give you the opportunity to taste a wide spectrum of champagnes, so you will taste at least 25 champagnes over the course of the weekend, (starting at breakfast!)
You’ll visit a cross section of our chosen producers, famous Houses in Reims, Epernay or Ay (those that forged Champagne’s reputation such as Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot) plus our selection of the best smaller champagne growers that we have sought out over the years in the villages such as Ay, Bouzy and Le Mesnil. Many of the top cuvées are superb value too.
Travelling with Arblaster & Clarke you receive a special welcome due to our long held reputation, along with generous Champagne tastings at houses that we have been visiting for many years. On every tour we have at least one meal as guests at a Champagne house or growers. As we travel by coach from London you may bring back up to 36 bottles per person. Alternatively you can make you own way to Reims or join us from Paris.
See our range of Champagne Weekends further down the page including the A&C 25th Anniversary Champagne Festival in Reims
Also see the more luxurious Champagne Extra Tours and The Ultimate Champagne
Travelling to Reims
On these wine tours we depart from central London in the morning and generally arrive into Reims between 1600 and 1700 local time (an hour ahead of UK time). You’ll have time to relax or explore before the evening Comparative Champagne tasting. We do everything possible to ensure that you have a comfortable journey and are able to put your feet up, read a book or catch up the week’s news or enjoy the scenery. Our Tour Manager serves complimentary tea, coffee and biscuits and there is no background music or anything like that. We stop briefly on arrival in France so you can pick up with some cheeses, wine and bread etc to enjoy en-route. This helps make the journey pass pleasantly and quickly!
Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours are not a coach company and our clients are not generally speaking regular coach travellers but are always surprised about how comfortable, hassle free and convenient it is to get to the region. Besides the great joy of not having to drive yourself, it is also very easy for you to bring back lots of champagne! The other big advantage of coach travel is the views – you are much higher up than in a car or even a train and so see much more. It is also an extremely “carbon friendly” way to travel.
Joining or leaving from Paris
Reims is easy to get to from Paris by train or taxi. many clients from around the world join our Champagne Weekends from Paris. They sometimes then return with us to London or sometimes have a few days in London and then fly home from Paris
Evening Comparative Tastings
The Comparative Tastings are a special feature of the A&C Champagne experience. Over the weekend, we want to show you as broad a spectrum of Champagnes as possible. So on every A&C Champagne Tour, your Wine Guide shows you a selection of Champagnes to introduce the various styles and as many Houses and Growers as possible. It’s a fun and illuminating evening, no two Wine Guides have the same approach, but they all give you expert commentary as you taste some unusual and special Champagnes, not only the famous names.
Buying Champagne on Arblaster & Clarke wine tours
One of the great advantages of coming on an escorted Arblaster & Clarke tour to Champagne is the opportunity we give you to taste lots of different champagnes over the course of the weekend in the company of a Champagne expert, respected wine journalist or Master of Wine. Not only is this an extremely enjoyable learning experience, it also helps you discover, in case you were not sure already, which style of champagnes you prefer!
We always include visits to a couple of personally selected top quaity smaller producers, whose wines are often not available in the UK and these are generally the best places for you to stock up at to bring home with you. You may bring back 36 bottles per person on the coach.
At the great houses of Taittinger, Veuve-Clicquot and other such Houses prices compare well with the UK, especially when it comes to the vintage or prestige cuvées. Prices at the Growers start for non-vintage at around 13 -15 euros, which is much less than you pay for basic supermarket champagne back home, and here we are talking about top quality champagne from the Grand Cru villages.
Do come and join us!
The style of these weekends remains unique to Arblaster & Clarke. The “Champagne Weekend” idea that Lynette Arblaster & Tim Clarke pioneered has given our clients so much pleasure over the past 25 years! To get the most out of the Champagne Region you simply must go one of our Champagne Tours.
View Other Ideas and Past ToursTours
Paris & Champagne for Valentine's
11 - 13 February 2012
Spring Champagne
17 - 19 March 2012
Champagne Extra Spring Weekend
24 - 26 March 2012
May Bank Holiday Champagne
5 - 7 May 2012
Jubilee Champagne Weekend
2 - 4 June 2012
Aÿ Champagne Festival
6 - 8 July 2012
Aÿ Festival Champagne Self Drive
6 - 9 July 2012
October Champagne Weekend
20 - 22 October 2012
Autumn Champagne
27 - 29 October 2012
Arblaster & Clarke 25th Anniversary Festival
23 - 25 November 2012
