Newsletters

April, 2011

Dear Customer,

And so to our usual verbiage: our newsletters can be unfashionably verbose, so if you prefer to go straight to a particular topic, the main headings are below.

• General
• Boursot’s Reduced Cross Channel Fares
• SeaFrance
• Boursot’s Hotel Offer
• Your Own Events in France
• Forthcoming Boursot Events
• News in the World of Wine
• Boursot’s New List
• Stocks

General

It never ceases to amaze me how we seem to be so taken in by how sly some marketing has become. In the modern world, packages shrink in size and yet the price remains the same. And we are told that this new size has advantages for "freshness" and for "the environment"!

Similarly, without any announcement but thanks to the automatic "duty escalator" that was created a couple of years ago (inflation + 2.5% = +7.5%) the Budget added a further 15 pence duty to the cost price of a bottle of wine sold in the UK! Gone are the days when we all used to feel exasperated by a 4p a bottle rise. Wine drinkers in Britain are easy targets for the Exchequer.

The depressing part about this, as I have said here previously, is that many wine drinkers will not feel any price increase. Multiple retailers will as usual pass back these duty increases to their suppliers who in turn, have to cut corners in their winemaking in order to cram their wines within the supermarkets' so-called magic "price points". So, even lower quality will be foisted on an unsuspecting public.

The only good side of this is that Boursot's Wine Collection is of course unaffected by any duty and so our quality will not slip and our prices have hardly moved over the years. Thank you once again Mr. Chancellor!

Boursot's Reduced Cross Channel Fares

As a Boursot's Wine Collection customer you should take advantage of our special arrangement with SeaFrance whereby you can get a special day return crossing fare for just £25 for your car and all passengers Sundays to Fridays, or £29 on Saturdays.

In addition, SeaFrance is offering you a 36 hour return of just £35 (£40 for Saturdays) as a Boursot customer.

These savings over SeaFrance's normal prices are only available to you as a registered member of our database, and are not visible on our website. You can book at these special rates directly on this link. If you lose this link, you can also go to www.seafrance.com and in the Offer Code panel, enter the word Boursot.

In addition if you spend more than 600€ with us, we will be happy to reimburse your day return fare booked through SeaFrance, so please remember to bring along your receipt.

Eurotunnel is running another series of £22 day return tickets on 12, 13, 14, 19 and 20 April - so you can top up on all your favourite wines in time for the long Easter weekend! Click this link to find out more: http://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/promotions/tickets/Half-Price-day-trip-tickets-to-france/

In case you didn't know it already, I should also point out that Tesco clubcard points can be exchanged for Eurotunnel tickets.

SeaFrance

I have it on good authority that SeaFrance's ownership is being retained by the French government, subject to final approval by Brussels. The company had a good year's trading in 2010 with increased sales and reduced costs.

When you travel again on SeaFrance, you should find an improvement in general quality and that their on-board boutiques are fully open once again.

Boursot's Hotel Offer

As you may know, we have a list of local hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, golf clubs and places of interest on our website under the Local Info button from our Home Page - or directly here. We hope you will find this helpful.

It is probably true to say that about three or four years ago, the 4 star Hôtel Château Tilques between here and Saint-Omer, was overly crowded with partying Brits and the consequence of that was that the hotel's quality and value seemed to slip.

Now, things are very different as those of you who have been to our Gourmet Evenings there can testify, and we have no hesitation in recommending the hotel and its restaurant. The food is great, the service is impeccable and the bedrooms are characterful, light and spacious. With its idyllic setting, and proximity to the bustling and pretty town of Saint-Omer with its historic cathedral, I can't think of a much better combination for an easy and tranquil getaway for a night or two.

As a Boursot's Wine Collection customer, through 2011 you will continue to receive reduced rates of 129€ per room Sundays to Fridays and 159€ for Saturday nights; these prices are per night for two people, including breakfast and are of course offered subject to availability. When booking, please mention Boursot to get your special rates.

Also between Monday and Friday, if you'd like to eat in the Brasserie du Parc, Château Tilques' attractive conservatory, you will be offered a free kir - again, provided that you mention Boursot's Wine Collection!

Your Own Events in France

You may know it already but we are often asked to help organise various social events - for groups such as Golf Clubs, Rotary Clubs, U3A, Wine Clubs, Car Clubs, birthday parties, office parties, pre-wedding parties etc.

Typically, we would discuss your desired objectives for your event and then work backwards from there. We can liaise on your behalf with local restaurants and if required, hotels. Being locals, often we are allowed to provide our wines in restaurants at our shop prices and with no cost of "corkage" to you.

Depending on whether you would like it, I can talk a little about the various wines being served, probably concluding with some entertaining words about the World of Wine. These events are always fun and they are different: with only 23 miles across that English Channel, but a million miles away in cultural terms, people always seem delighted to get away for a complete change of scenery and for a bit of French life.

With our advantageous deals with SeaFrance as well as with local restaurants and hotels, you can really entertain your guests here in northern France at extraordinary value.

In addition of course, I am happy to travel to you to present wine related events to your groups or dinners.

Do please contact me by phone or on guy@boursot.com to explore your options.

Forthcoming Boursot Events

All our lunches and dinners are of course held in English. Vegetarian and alternative food options can also be provided, as long as we receive notice at the time of booking. Please contact us on ardres@boursot.co.uk or on +33 321 36 81 46 to book for any of our events below.

Saturday 14th May: A Fundamental Guide to Burgundy by Guy Boursot at Hostellerie de 3 Mousquetaires, Aire-sur-la-Lys

This dinner is now sold out but to give you a flavour, Burgundy is one of France's most confusing viticultural areas. It produces highly sought exquisite wines from Pinot Noir for its reds and from Chardonnay for its whites - names include Meursault, Montrachet and Musigny. It's an area that is different to, say, Bordeaux where one name produces one wine. In Burgundy, just when you think you've found a name that you enjoy, such as Gevrey-Chambertin, you might see a bottle with the identical name but with a slightly different label, you buy it and it is simply not the same as the one you had previously. Why not? Is there a guaranteed route to finding the right Burgundy at the right price at all times? Is it best to buy from growers or from négociants?

We have had dinners with experts such as Faiveley and Leflaive, never forgetting of course the late Paul Bouchard, but on a more fundamental level how can we begin to understand this area and get the best from its wines? During our evening we will contrast the "same" wines from different growers, and we will then work up the quality scale towards some great names and we will accompany these wines with a fine four course menu.

Being from a Burgundy family, and knowing the area and its wines well, I will be unravelling some of the mysteries behind one of the greatest wine producing regions of the world.

The Hostellerie 3 Mousquetaires changed hands six months ago and refurbishments are almost complete. We have eaten there recently and were delighted to find that the restaurant has been restored to its former quality - perhaps partly due to the fact that the chef proprietor "cheffed" at the Berkeley Hotel and Pied à Terre in London: two great references. www.hostelleriedes3mousquetaires.com

As I said earlier, this dinner is now sold out but we have a waiting list in case we receive any cancellations.

Sunday 10th July: Mid-Summer Lunch at the Moulin d'Audenfort

Our mid-summer "do" is going to be on Sunday 10th July - an informal four course lunch at the waterside mill hotel Le Moulin at Audenfort just outside Licques, 10 minutes from Ardres. As usual we will start with a bubbly reception and then move on to five wines with our lunch. We have just a few places remaining.

I will be talking about the wines as well as about what is going on generally in the world of wine at the moment. Tickets for the lunch will be 49€ (about £43 at today's rate) and accommodation at around 55€ per room is available. It's a good inexpensive day or weekend away. And it will be fun.

Saturday 24th September: Dinner at the Restaurant de la Plage, Boulogne: Theme to be announced

We were particularly struck recently by the excellent quality of this restaurant on the sea front in Boulogne. The quality of the cuisine was one of the finest we have enjoyed in a long time and felt that it would be good to share this experience with you. However, there will be limited capacity so we would recommend you book early. With luck we'll have fine weather and thereby enjoy the sunset over the sea, whilst having a wonderful wine theme to accompany the restaurant's great food. A theme is still to be chosen but I expect to have one soon.

Saturday 15th October: Anniversary Dinner at the Hotel Atlantic, Wimereux

Our annual dinner on the sea front in Wimereux is impressive in more ways than one. The hotel is a favourite gastronomic destination and haven for those wishing to escape and spend a relaxing weekend on the French seafront. Having developed something of a reputation, this is always a popular dinner and we recommend that you book early for this.

We hope to be able to reveal to you soon the identity of our guest speaker.

Saturday 19 November: Venue and Speaker to be announced

This dinner will have a guest speaker, whose identity cannot be revealed yet. Once we know that, then we can gauge the capacity of the venue required!

Sunday 11th December: Christmas Market Lunch at Restaurant La Griotte, Ardres

Our Christmas Lunch is the fun highlight of the year. This year we have decided to ring the changes and hold our Christmas Lunch at the restaurant La Griotte on the green in Ardres where Madame Dacheville cooks very good food for a reasonable price.

That morning, from 10am, the annual Turkey Festival will be held about 20 minutes away in the village of Licques, and then I suggest you come to the lunch and then "do" the Ardres Christmas Market in the afternoon, by which time our spirits and the general atmosphere will have warmed up! Père Noël is normally to be found abseiling down the church spire at around 6pm.

The lunch comprises four courses and six wines at a price of just 55€ (around £48) per person all-inclusive. It is an inexpensive fun day out and accommodation can of course be arranged for you in and around Ardres, should you wish to stay over.

News in the World of Wine

You often ask me as a wine writer and presenter to tell you my thoughts about what appears to be happening in the global wine market.

I said in December that, if you had a spare 450 million euros, you could have offered to buy a pair of champagne houses, Piper Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck, which were being sold off by drinks group Remy Cointreau after 20 years of ownership. The two houses with 40 million bottles of champagne and 800 hectares of vineyards have now been sold to the French company EPI for 400 million euros. EPI is the holding company of the Descours family which owns several French clothing businesses as well as a vineyard, Château de la Verrerie, in the Côtes du Lubéron.

In case you were thinking that Heidsieck seems to be a common name around Champagne, Piper Heidsieck was one of the original champagne houses founded in 1785 and out of Piper were later born the two champagne houses Heidsieck Monopole and Charles Heidsieck.

In the trade, we are all left slightly reeling by the news that unless British Gas follows through its winding up order (for a mere £58!), Oddbins officially goes into administration on Monday, having been denied a CVA by HM Customs & Excise - unsurprisingly, as it was owed £8.5 million (in duty and VAT) out of the total £21 million owed! The extensive list of creditors made very sorry (and surprising) reading and many well known names will now be licking their wounds and those that survive will be looking to tighten up their credit control arrangements. There are several small suppliers whose debts of, say into 6 figures will have put them into mortal trouble. A friend of mine, Nick James, managing director of the well-funded Pol Roger UK Ltd (owed £273,612) said after the CVA meeting last week "This is a sad day and for smaller companies like us it's a hell of a blow. It will have implications throughout the trade." With the decreased number of players in high street retailing some of the larger trade suppliers decided that they wanted to take the risk with Oddbins but now they will have to pay a high price. I think that in the next phase there could be a few questions arising about the terms of the deal by which the "new owners" took on Oddbins in the first place back in 2008.

Following on from my last report, the latest count of châteaux in Bordeaux sold to the Chinese since the 1st January stands currently at six. Watch that space!

It was reassuring to hear (rather late in the day?) that scientists have developed a counterfeit wine and spirit detector that works on unopened bottles with a simple scan of the packaging. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recently alerted consumers to watch out for fake bottles of Jacob's Creek in the London area, which it said was not harmful but was of very low quality and substandard taste (!). HMR&C estimates it loses about £300m each year in revenue on fake wines and spirits.

Thanks to fine weather, budding of the 2011 vines has started a week early in Bordeaux, which makes many vineyard proprietors nervous as frost can still easily appear in April. The annual press and merchant jamboree starts this week in Bordeaux to taste the infant 2010 red Bordeaux harvest. And after that, you will start to hear the media noise about how good, bad or indifferent the young claret vintage is and whether it might be a good idea to invest in the young wines or not.

Following the triumphal 2009 Bordeaux harvest, 2010 is expected to be of high to very high quality with good ageing potential, but as I have said here before, few are making much noise yet about 2010. Early indications are that it will not be quite as "good" (whatever that means!) as the previous year, 2009 or indeed 2005.

One of the discussions amongst us wine writers at the moment is whether we should be airing our views and awarding points, as is currently the case, before the châteaux release their prices or whether we should hold back and allow the châteaux to consider and announce their opening prices, after which the journalists can release their notes. I don't think it's unfair to say that for many years the Bordeaux château proprietors have exploited wine journalists' views to support their prices. For what it's worth, I feel that there are now simply too many journalists from all over the world tripping over each other to get the first "news" out, and that the parties are also so deeply entrenched that little now could radically change this annual circus, a classic case of the Bordeaux trade manipulating the public's opinion and purse strings.

Within the next few weeks you will hear whether Bordeaux has another vintage of the decade!

In Alsace, Nicolas Faller of Robert Faller & Fils reports that with their "2010 vintage, everything is fine, we have started to filter our Tradition wines and the result is very good - 2010 seems to be a very good year for us. Winter was extremely good as it was cold which is always good for the vineyard".

Remember: according to HM Customs & Excise you can take back as much wine as you like from France to Britain, provided that it's for your personal consumption. If you want to take back a lorry full of wine for your own use at weddings and parties, you are perfectly within your rights to do so.

Boursot's New List

You can always see our latest list on this link and if you would like to print it, it's available on this link.

There are some exciting new wines on this list, including a delicious new red Costières de Nimes made from Syrah and Grenache at a good price (under 5€) as well as some gorgeous red Burgundies and clarets.

I have been buying several Burgundies for the next, May, list and if you had been following us on Twitter (Boursots_Wine), you might have sensed my frustration in being told by so many vineyards that they were sold out or they had already allocated all their 2009 red stocks. There are always ways around these challenges! And I have bought all sorts of great wines - names such as Beaune, Echézeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin, Hautes Côtes de Nuits, Morey Saint-Denis, Saint-Romain, Vosne-Romanée - that I hope will make our list even more attractive to winelovers everywhere.

I talked some months ago about our starting with a new grower in Champagne this Spring. This has now come to fruit and I am pleased to announce that we are working with Benoit Marguet, the current generation of Champagne Marguet, Grand Cru - a fine producer in the village of Ambonnay. Apart from Benoit's evident personality, he is a great winemaker and we are stocking a selection of his fine Grand Cru champagnes at some incredible prices. Just compare our prices against those found in the UK and you will fully understand what I'm talking about! I am hoping that the charismatic Benoit will be hosting one of our wine dinners in the Autumn but am awaiting confirmation.

Stocks

Inevitably our stocks rise and fall according to the season. If there is something that attracts your eye in our current list, do call or e-mail us and we shall be pleased to put some stock on one side for you, so as to guarantee that you can have it for when you want to visit.

We also have a range of unusual sizes in wooden boxes, making smart gifts. For example, we have jeroboams (double magnums) and imperials (quadruple magnums) of Bordeaux, Champagne and Minervois in wooden boxes at very sensible prices.

Many people tell us that we have good wines at the right prices and that our offering is so much more exciting and wide ranging than the equivalent retail operation in Britain. This is what I aimed to achieve all of 10 years ago when I came down here.

We do not advertise and it is very unlikely that you will read a review on us in the British media, but we have found that your word of mouth is our most powerful source of new customers. So if you are happy with what we do, please help us by telling your wine loving friends about us - or you could refer them to our "Receive Monthly Newsletter" button on the home page of www.boursot.co.uk. We will be very grateful to you.

As with all our wines, we stand by our guarantee to take back any resaleable bottles if you find that the wine is not to your taste or if you have too many bottles left over after a party.

Some of you have met Jean-Bertrand (he answers to Jean, in case you should forget!) who works in our Ardres shop. Having spent the last 11 years living and working in Britain, he understands very well the tastes and demands of the British client and he is now being fine-tuned to the Boursot ways. Having worked all that time (and previously in France) in the quality hotel and restaurant trade, he is particularly good at advising on styles and quantities of wine for weddings and parties.

We hope to see you here again very soon, whether it's for our delicious and easy to enjoy Petit Pont Réserve wines at around £2.90 a bottle or whether it's for something more exclusive for your special dinner parties. We have them all.

A bientôt!

With all best wishes,

Yours sincerely,
Guy

Guy Boursot
Wine Consultants SARL
Boursot's Wine Collection
9 Rue de l'Arsenal
62610 ARDRES

+33 3 21 36 81 46
www.boursot.co.uk