Newsletters
 December, 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
In case you should ever wonder, before VAT the UK duty currently stands at £1.81 per bottle of still wine and £2.32 on each bottle of sparkling wine. Add 20% VAT to both the duty and to the value of the wine and you have a very unhappy situation for UK wine drinkers. With the average sale price of a bottle of wine in the UK being £4.55, this means that just over 56% of the cost of that bottle is now consumed in tax.
Thanks to the automatic duty escalator, this will rise by inflation plus 2% from 1st January.
You may have read recently that the French government has raised duties and taxes in order to better balance its budgets. There has been no increase in the negligible rate of duty on wine, thanks to the country being a major supplier of wine both on the domestic and export markets. So, wine tax still remains at an almost non-existent rate of about 1.5 pence per bottle!
Many of you say the same thing epitomised by one happy customer said to us not so long ago "One has to be crazy to buy wines in England. Virtually no choice on the high street and when you can find something interesting, it’s ridiculously expensive... This (coming to Ardres) is so much fun, it's so easy, we make a day of it and everyone is happy".
On our list you will see some net price comparisons between our wines and their net prices charged in the UK. You get a good selection of French wines here in Ardres with some huge savings.
You can rest assured that all the wines on the Boursot list, starting at just 2,90€ (around £2.50) per bottle, have been tasted and selected by me as being "good" in their own different ways – it's then simply a question of your personal preferences and of course everyone has different tastes.
With both numbers of customers and our sales volume increasing, these are very happy times for us in Ardres.
If you should like to come outside our normal opening hours, do please call or e-mail us. Sometimes it is possible to open up, or else to leave your order nearby for you to collect - and we have a secure web page on which you can leave your card details.
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Boursot's Reduced Cross Channel Fares
As explained below, we are not promoting SeaFrance this month until things become more clear.
However, as you may have seen from our Tweets, Eurotunnel is offering another series of £22 day returns on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from the 15th November until the 14th December. Click this link to find out more. The perfect time to come and get your wines for the festive season!
In case you didn’t know it already, we should also point out that Tesco clubcard points can be exchanged for Eurotunnel tickets, although they may not be usable in combination with this offer.
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Boursot's Hotel Offer
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. Whilst talking about Local Info, we also list the Bank Holidays so that you do not find, on getting here, that everything is closed (except Boursot’s Wine Collection of course which remains open every day except Sundays and Mondays and over Christmas).
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!
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Our new online wine gift boutique, Grapes & Vines Gift Designs, is based in the UK and is now delivering orders for Christmas. Click the link above to see the selection of items - from USB flash drives disguised as corks, to our exclusive Nick Newman framed wine cartoons, wine soaps, wine map tea towels, cufflinks, glassware, wine books, cellar books, label books, wine aerators, bottle chillers, wine buckets, tastevins, decanter cleaning balls ... and so the list goes on and this will continue to grow. These make ideal gifts for wine lovers and you can order these online and the items will be delivered to you at home within a few days.
Several of these items, which make ideal gifts, at our online store have been specifically designed and made for us. There are many more to appear yet, so do please keep looking!
Sign up here for the ezine, to read the blog or to sign up for tweets to learn of new items added.
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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 what's going on in 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.
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Forthcoming Boursot Events
All our customer 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.
If a guest speaker is unable to attend, we will endeavour to find another speaker and if none is available, Guy Boursot will present the talk.
Boursot's Wine Collection is usually open on the Sunday morning after a Saturday night dinner.
Sunday 11th December: Christmas Market Lunch at Restaurant La Griotte, Ardres
Our Christmas Lunch as the fun highlight of the year is now sold out but in case of cancellations, we have started a waiting list.
However, you can still come for a day of pre-Christmas fun.
From 10am that day, the annual Turkey Festival will be held about 20 minutes away in Licques, a village famed for its outdoor reared chickens and turkeys. Here, a flock of local turkeys is "shepherded" up the main street. Dotted along the route you can enjoy stew served from a huge steaming cauldron, eat roasted meat from street barbecues and you can even try out "Licquoise", a fiery local liqueur that will help to keep you warm. All for free. There are musicians and confrères and there is also a simple Christmas Market brimming with local produce.
Back in Ardres, the annual concert of Christmas music takes place during the afternoon in the pretty 16th century church alongside Boursot's Wine Collection. It's worth "doing" the Christmas Market after lunch, by which time everyone's spirits and the general atmosphere have warmed up! This is a "typical local Christmas Market" and Père Noël (Father Christmas, not the local priest!) is normally to be found absailing down the church spire just after 6pm throwing goodies to all the children assembled below.
This is a fun day out.
Saturday 28th January: Boursot's "Blues Buster" Gourmet Dinner: Venue to be arranged
January is when most of us need a bit of cheering up. So, on the weekend of the 28th we will be hosting a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable day and evening in the cosy surroundings of the newly purchased and refurbished Three Musketeers. This hotel is now back on top form; we have hosted a couple of dinners here ourselves or for other groups and have been excited by the quality of cuisine from David Wojtkowiak who, among other accolades used to chef at the (new) Berkeley hotel in London – a fine reference indeed!
This event will be a little different! During the Saturday afternoon, David Wojtkowiak will host (in English of course!) a cookery demonstration. You will be shown the techniques used to prepare the courses of dinner that we will be eating that evening and it seems that you could also be cooking your own version of it! Because of the limited size of groups that can be accommodated in the kitchen, simultaneously Guy Boursot will host a wine masterclass which will incorporate a small tasting. This pair of classes lasts 90 minutes and will be just 35€ per person for both - they will be held within the hotel.
That evening, the theme for the dinner looks as if it will be along the lines of “Food and Wine Matching – does it matter?”. The 4 course dinner served with 6 wines will be at the all-inclusive price of 74€ (about £63).
We have blocked off bedrooms at Les Trois Mousquetaires for this dinner, so please let us know if you would like to stay so we can allocate you a room at our advantageous rate of 110&euro per double room.
This is expected to be a popular event and we urge you to book early, as inevitably spaces are limited. Please let us know whether you would like to attend either or both of the events as well as the dinner. Either way, you should have fun.
Saturday 17th March: “Grand Cru Champagne” presented by Benoit Marguet at Hotel Château Tilques, Saint-Omer
Please note that we have changed the date of this event.
We are very pleased to tell you that the charismatic and highly respected Benoit Marguet of the Grand Cru producer Champagne Marguet in Ambonnay will be our guest speaker this evening. Benoit is a proud defender of the concept of “terroir” which defines the various differences between so many wines around the world. He will talk about the current developments in Champagne and will answer any questions you may have.
This will be an evening to remember, comparing several different styles of champagne over dinner and being led by a true champagne professional.
We have blocked off a number of bedrooms at the 4 star Hotel Chateau Tilques for this dinner, so please let us know if you would like to stay so we can allocate you a room at our advantageous rate of 159€ per double room with breakfasts included.
The price for the four course dinner and all entertainment will be 89€ (about £77 at today’s rate).
Saturday 29th April: Hotel Atlantic, Wimereux
A beautiful and major new wine bookhas recently been published and indeed, we now have our stocks available for you to buy through this link.
“Tong” (the Flemish for Tongue) has for a while been producing quarterly publications about wine. With its articles written by wine professionals, whether they be winemakers or masters of wine, I have found it to be a source of useful and interesting information. What is refreshing is that this “magazine” (for lack of a better word) is written and edited in a no-nonsense and impartial style:
without any of the gush and sensation that adorns more “popular” wine magazines. As a matter of policy, it also carries no advertising, which helps to reinforce my view that this is a serious publication.
Tong is now producing its first book called “Wine” (!) which will guide everyone, whether novice or professional. I believe that this 288 page book is a must-buy for anyone who has an interest in wine, and that at just £26, it also offers super value. Chapters include: What does good wine taste like? How do I choose wine from a supermarket shelf? Further chapters contain more in-depth knowledge: How to combine wine with food? What is the vine like? How does climate influence a wine's taste? What really happens in a winery? And much more.
Filip Verheyden is co-author and publisher of Tong and he will be our guest presenter this evening. With his outspoken attitude towards wine (and food), you should find this evening both refreshing and illuminating.
Tickets for this Gourmet Dinner are 89€ (around £77) per person to include a bubbly reception, a five course dinner and five more wines. And of course some top discussion! We have blocked off rooms at the Atlantic and there are also plenty of other hotel rooms within easy walking distance.
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News in the World of Wine
You often ask me as a wine presenter and writer to tell you my thoughts about what appears to be happening currently in the global wine market.
Following my trip around the southern vineyards in October, I gave you my views on the 2011 harvest as far as one could tell at such an early stage. There are many excited noises coming from the Rhône area, about the quality of their 2011s - plenty of ripe fruit with good aging potential in the reds whilst the whites have an aromatic freshness. This may turn out to be every bit as good as 2007 in style - maybe even better. Demand for these good quality and relatively good value wines keep increasing and with many of our smaller producers, we are having to reserve our 2012allocations now, so as to maintain continuity of supply for next year. Prices at source can be expected to creep up over the coming months.
With 46,000 people employed directly or indirectly, the wine industry is the largest employer of the Rhône area so one can quite understand why local folk are so proud and protective of their vineyard areas.
In the Central Loire, the area that produces such great names as Pouilly Fumé and Sancerre, you can also expect to enjoy good wines from 2011 after, as we can all too easily remember, a year of very odd weather patterns epitomised by summer weather in spring and autumn weather in summer! There was however some localised hail devastation particularly around the vineyards of Quincy.
The harvest was the earliest on record (even earlier than the heatwave year of 2003) and the 2011 wines should turn out to be full and supple on the plate yet with the classic Loire freshness.
Over the last 30 years the Burgundy house of Boisset has acquired several other Burgundy houses such as Antonin Rodet, Bouchard Ainé, Jaffelin, Mommessin, J. Moreau and Ropiteau among others, with operations also in the USA and Canada. Their list has just been lengthened with the acquisition of the French giant Skalli. Over the last few months, the rumour was that the other huge French wine giant, Castel who own Nicolas and once owned Oddbins, were the forerunners to acquire Skalli's 100m€ turnover.
Skalli, a family run firm, specialises in producing varietal labelled wines in the Languedoc and also has vineyards in the Rhône; although it also has vineyards in California's Napa Valley, these are not a part of this sale. Under Boisset, whilst all these diverse houses continue to produce their own individual styles with a large degree of independence, they do benefit from their parent's public company status and financial clout.
It is often hard to comprehend Europe - in more ways than one. It seems crazy that within the 2016 proposed reform of the Common Agricultural Policy there is to be a wide liberalisation of vineyard planting rights. The effect would be to increase vastly the European area under vine, permitting whole new areas to plant - after a decade of telling us that vineyard areas had to be grubbed up because there was too much wine being produced, this appears to be a complete volte face. Quality would go down and in several areas where there is already hardship, such a move can only add to growers' woes.
There is now a concerted effort to get at least half the 27 member countries to agree that these plans would harm producers and to force the Commission to rethink its policy.
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Wine Tourism
Whilst much of Europe has been relatively slow to catch on, nowadays Franc's vineyard areas in particular have really embraced wine tourism. You just have to visit Epernay, Beaune or Bordeaux to appreciate how wine tourism has been accepted and developed. If you should like to visit one of France's viticultural areas, do go to our vineyard tours company on www.overthetoptours.net - we will take you behind the scenes in many of the great vineyard areas where you will meet and often dine with some of the producers. We make up private tours specific to your preferences. Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Languedoc, Loire and Rhône are all areas that we visit and where we have great contacts. If you have a group of friends or colleagues whom you would like to get together on a vineyard tour, please do contact me and we can start working out a strategy.
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Our address is @Boursots_Wine. Do please feel free to mention us and our wines if you are happy with what we do, and we will be pleased to retweet your comments to our own followers.
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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.
Wines that have returned to our list include:-
Alsace, Pinot Blanc, Cuvée Tradition, Robert Faller et Fils
Alsace, Pinot Gris, Vendages Tardives, Robert Faller et Fils
White Burgundy, Rully Les Villeranges, Faiveley
Red Bordeaux, Les Hauts de Lynch-Moussas, Pauillac
New items:-
Grand Cru Saint-Emillion, Château Haut Badon, 2008 - really good value at 11,20€
Red Bandol, Château Vannières, 2008 - an absolutely delicious and complex red at 19,70€
Vintage Armanac, Domaine du Mignon has changed vintage from 1982 to 1978 at the same price
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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 magnums, jeroboams (double magnums) and imperials (quadruple magnums) of Bordeaux, Champagne and Minervois, most of which are in wooden boxes at very sensible prices. As with our wine related accessories, these make great gifts.
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In Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, we are constantly being told that our offering is so much more exciting and wide ranging than the equivalent retail operation in Britain. We are proud of our wine selection which, thanks to your support, is finding a wider audience with each passing month. This has been a fantastic year for us and I would like to thank you for helping us in your own way. Thank you so much.
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 continues to be our best source of new customers. So, if you are happy with what we do, please continue to help us by telling your wine loving friends, or tweet or blog 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 resalable bottles if you find that the wine is not to your taste or if you have too many bottles left over after a party.
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.
We are open from 10 to 6 from MONDAY to SATURDAY, and we do not close for lunch. Please let us know if you should like to visit outside these hours. Sometimes it is possible to open up or to leave your order nearby for you to collect - and we have a secure web page on which you can leave your card details.
Over the Christmas period, we will be closed between the 24th and the 28th December and will reopen after the New Year from Thursday 5th January.
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 £3 a bottle or whether it’s for something more exclusive for your special dinner parties. We have them all.
May we wish you a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
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
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