Champagne Vilmart cellars

Champagne Bottles Taittinger Cellar

Champagne bottle sediment demonstration

Champagne Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin

Autumn Champagne

29 - 31 October 2010

Champagne is fun to drink and a fascinating wine to see being made and being easy to get to makes for a great weekend. Our base for the weekend is a comfortable 3* hotel in the centre of the lively attractive city of Reims.

Our aim is to taste a wide spectrum of Champagnes, to visit a good cross section of Houses, from those that forged Champagne’s reputation such as Taittinger, Pol Roger and Veuve Clicquot as well as to search out quality growers and rising stars in the villages.

You will taste at least 20 champagnes over the course of the weekend, starting at breakfast. You will receive a special welcome and generous tastings at houses that we have been visiting for many years.

Your Comparative Tastings

We want to show you as broad a spectrum of Champagnes over the weekend as possible. So, as always on Arblaster & Clarke Champagne weekends, your Wine Guide will show you a selection of Champagnes in order to introduce the various styles and different Houses or Growers in two tastings, one each evening. No two of our tastings are alike and no two Wine Guides have the same approach to presenting them. We like to choose some unusual Champagnes for you to taste not just the famous names. Most will be to your liking though perhaps some may not. You can normally learn more from these than those you liked, but hopefully you'll find one or two that you think are fabulous!

Evening Meals

Reims has a wealth of wonderful restaurants, brasseries and bistros from two Michelin double rossette restaurants (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 reservation at two of our favourite (reasonably priced) brasseries and you are very welcome to join our wine guide or tour manager for dinner where they will select some interesting wines.

This again is one of the great advantages of an Arblaster & Clarke fully escorted tour, we give you the flexibility to dine alone if this is what your prefer, or the fun of being part of a lively party who generally all get on together really well, especially after the champagne tasting has broken the ice! This is especially appreciated by those clients who travel alone with us.

Champagne Breakfasts

Breakfast is served each morning at the hotel on the top floor, from where there is a superb view over the town and out towards the cathedral. The A&C tour manager is on hand to exclusively serve our clients with a glass of champagne to go with their buffet breakfast - morning's will never seem the same again!

Henri Goutorbe

Champagne Henri Goutorbe in Aÿ has been known to us since 1988, when the winemaker René Goutorbe came on our Champagne makers tour to California. This leading grower producer won the prestigious award from the French wine and gourmet guides Gault Millau "Vigneron of the Year 1996" (which is not just confined to Champagne wine-makers) and has continued to thrive.

Your Free Time in Reims

Lunchtime is free in Reims. You will have time to explore Reims and choose a cafe table to sit at and people watch while you enjoy some local food and a glass of champagne, perhaps!

Our afternoon visit departs mid afternoon and of course if you decide you would rather linger over your lunch, explore Reims further, or simply rest, you can of course choose to miss the visit and meet up with again later for dinner if you prefer.

Champagne Taittinger

We visit the beautiful cellars of Champagne Taittinger, which weave for kilometres under the city of Reims. They were carved out of the chalk by the Romans and now house the prestige Cuvée of Taittinger, the 'Comtes de Champagne'. This is the perfect introduction to Champagne; we see how it is made and then taste a couple of champagnes in their elegant tasting room.

Champagne Vilmart

One of our favourite growers is Champagne Vilmart, in Rilly-La-Montagne. Established in the 1890s Vilmart is still a family run house. They are one of the few remaining traditional producers who both ferment the wines and mature the champagnes in oak barrels and tonneaux. Vilmart also prides itself on being an organic producer, using no herbicides or chemicals on their vineyards. The Vilmart champagnes are full of richness, finesse and complexity.

Lunch at Champagne Launois

An old, established Grower Champagne that has been marketed since 1872. Benoit Bonnerave is from the Marguet-Bonnerave family and is one of Champagne's very characterful personalities. Launois own a large number of vineyards in the Côte des Blancs and produce mainly Blanc de Blancs champagnes.

Our visit here includes lunch, usually at the Château, following an aperetif at their museum in Mesnil-sur-Oger. Lunch will be accompanied by a selection of House champagnes. This is not a restaurant but a private invitation to lunch as guests of Champagne Launois.

After the visit we continue our journey directly back to Calais on on to Dover and London arriving late evening.

Extend your holiday by combining this tour with Burgundy & Beaujolais or Bordeaux & Cognac!

We have two different options to combine this wine tour and make your wine tour longer. If you would like to see the extended versions of these tours please see:

Burgundy & Beajolais for the wonderful coach (or train) tour to these beautiful regions. It is possible to travel to Burgundy for the 24th October 2010 and join this fabulous tour and then after a short taxi ride to Reims and a day to explore the city, join the Autumn Champagne comparative tasting and travel back to the UK with the coach at the end of the weekend! The total cost of this extended wine tour is: £1385 per person (based on twin / double).

Bordeaux & Cognac by Train a comprehensive introduction into Bordeaux as a region from the town of St. Emilion and then the attractive river-front town of Cognac to taste one of the worlds most revered spirits. You will then be able to take a direct train on the last day with no changes to Champagne Ardenne where you will meet the Autumn Champagne tour for the weekend. The total cost of this extended wine tour is: £1779 per person (based on twin / double).