Newsletters

Autumn, 2006

Dear Customer,

I hope you have had a good summer break since I last wrote to you.

Here in the centre of Ardres, Boursot's Wine Collection has of course been open since mid-June and I'd particularly like to thank those of you who have visited and bought wines.

This month I want to whet your appetite and tell you about our Official Launch Weekend which will be 14th -15th October. There will be several activities going on that weekend and so far planned are:-

• A beginners' Wine Masterclass

• An exhibition of French paintings

• An exhibition of photos of old Ardres taken in 1910

• A tasting in our shop of a large selection of our wines and olive oil

• Walk-around tours of historic Ardres conducted in English

• Guided visits around the underground passages and silos of Ardres

• A Champagne Gourmet Dinner at the François Premier restaurant

• Other traders will be offering added value to purchases made in their Ardres shops and restaurants on production of a Boursot voucher.

And more…!

As you probably know, the heart of historic Ardres is the cobbled square which is edged with buildings dating from the 17th century. Quiet cobbled streets spread out towards the old fortifications and thence to the recreational lakes and into the countryside.

There is much to see and do here and there's a lot of history, some of which involved Henry VIII and François I – anyway, you will find out more when you come! We have arranged special tours on foot to be taken in English around the town and one of these will include a visit to the town's underground silos and passages.

The centrepiece of our launch weekend will be the dinner at the Michelin rated (2 knives and forks) François Premier restaurant opposite our shop. This promises to be very special and it will offer extra-ordinary value as we do not charge a margin on the dinner and the wines. You will be able to compare different champagnes with each course and we hope to be able to demonstrate to you the versatility of the world's greatest sparkling wine. Dom Pérignon will be served among several other champagnes. We are pleased to announce that our speaker will be travelling from his Champagne house especially for our evening and to talk about the background to the wines that you will be drinking. Details of the menu and the wines will come to you in the next 14 days.

In view of the fact that the dinner, some tours and other events have a limited capacity, please let us know as soon as possible which events are of interest. Reservations for the various events will be accepted on a first come, first served basis and we expect demand to be high.

When you book, you will receive an information pack that we have put together containing local cultural, historical and sporting activities. During our weekend we will also be able to point you towards farm visits, watersports, golf and biking - if you should feel the desire.

If it helps, we can also book your hotel or B&B rooms as we have already block-booked a number of local rooms.

Our latest list is attached, but our new website www.boursot.co.uk is also up and running. Here you will find our up-to-date wine list, amongst many other pieces of wine information. You can reserve your orders on-line so that the bottles you want are put aside ready for your collection and not sold to the person to have gone out of the door just before you arrived! I continue to recommend that you let us know when you expect to be here, so that we can have everything ready for you - always assuming you know what you'd like!

As you are on our mailing list, you can benefit from our cross-channel fare deals starting at just £20 for a day return for either a car or a van. To find out more or to book, please call our friends at the Ferry Travel Market on 0870 264 2644 and quote our special code “Wine Co”. This special customer deal cannot be accessed from the links on our website. Many of our customers tell us that it's both easier and cheaper to get here than it is to get to London – and of course it's a whole lot more fun!

Regarding our opening hours, we have trialled being open on Sunday mornings but have found that there has not been enough demand yet to justify being open, so for the time being we intend to operate an appointment-only service on Sundays and Mondays: in other words, if you would like to visit on these days, it should be no problem – just let us know and we shall be pleased to open up for you.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who have taken the trouble to write in and by way of blowing our own trumpet (if we don't, who else will?!) here is a small selection of recent (unedited) comments:-

“Marvellous day on Monday, we both think your new shop is fantastic!” (VC)

“An impressive list with lots of interesting things!” (CG)

“Cheers and good luck. I hear the shop is stunning. I look forward to visiting.” (JG)

I look forward to seeing you again very soon.

With my best wishes

Guy

Guy BOURSOT
Wine Consultants SARL

Tel: +33 3 21 36 81 46
Mob: +33 6 76 10 32 41