Newsletters
 September, 2009
Dear Customer,
Our newsletters are unfashionably verbose, so if you prefer to go straight to a particular topic, the main headings are below:-
Introduction
There is much to look forward to this autumn, the planning of which is a reason why it has taken so long this time to produce the monthly newsletter. With the increasing confidence that is coming about, our business has been gathering momentum each week: events in France, tastings in the UK and an increasing footfall at Boursot's Wine Collection in Ardres, the golden gateway town between the two!
The Boursot newsletters seem to be popular and I receive many compliments, for which I thank you. However, if there are other aspects about wine that you would find helpful on either the newsletter or indeed on our website, please feel free to suggest them. If they are feasible, I shall be happy to include them.
A new box on the Home Page of www.boursot.co.uk now allows you directly to add the names and e-mail addresses of any friends whom you believe might be interested in receiving our mailings.
back to top
Boursot's Cross Channel Fare Deal
As a Boursot's customer, until 30th December 2009 you can get specially priced day return trips at £23 for a car and all passengers Sundays to Fridays, and £30 for Saturdays. As always, these fares are only available by calling the Ferry Travel Club on 01304 501100 (new telephone number) and by quoting our code "Boursot". You do not pay a membership fee and the Club also has good rates on longer trips and for accommodation in the area.
Also if you spend more than 600€ with us, we will be happy to reimburse your day return fare booked through the Ferry Travel Club, so please remember to bring along your receipt.
back to top
Forthcoming Boursot Events
The Boursot Anniversary Dinner at the Hotel Atlantic, Wimereux on Saturday 17th October
"Critics, Wine Competitions and Changing Wine Styles" with Charles Metcalfe
Wine personality, author, columnist and presenter Charles Metcalfe is to be our guest speaker at this year's Boursot's Anniversary Dinner on Saturday 17th October.
Charles is well-known as one of Britain's best loved wine writers and presenters. Spontaneous and amusing, he has many credits to his name but writes wine columns for the nationals and regularly appears as the wine correspondent on TV. In addition, he is co-chairman of the International Wine and Spirit Challenge, the competition that each year awards medals to many hundreds of wines on retailers' shelves. His latest book is 'The Wine & Food Lovers Guide to Portugal', written with his wife Kathryn McWhirter.
Charles will be talking about the fascinating title above and illuminating us about how and why the wine world has changed and what we all might expect for the future. Knowing Charles' style, it will be a highly entertaining evening.
The Atlantic Hotel probably needs no introduction to many of you, being in an unparalleled location on the seafront in the pretty town of Wimereux, 25 minutes outside Calais. Chef patron Alain Delpierre is one of the few Maitre Cuisiniers of France and I shall be providing some exceptional wines to accompany his imaginative dishes for this special occasion: our Third Birthday.
This Gourmet Evening offers exceptional value at 95€ (about £87 at today's rate) to include 4 courses, at least 6 wines, water, coffee and a really great evening's entertainment.
There are still a few places remaining for this exceptional event, so please be quick to call or e-mail us with your requirements.
back to top
Our 3rd Anniversary Weekend Timetable
Our timetable for our Anniversary Weekend of 17th and 18th October looks as follows:-
Saturday
2 - 3pm: Cheese and Chocolate Tasting at Boursot's Wine Collection
2 - 5pm: Wine Tasting at Boursot's Wine Collection
3 - 4pm: Guided Tours of Ardres' subterranean historic silos and bastions
7.30pm: Charles Metcalfe presents Boursot's Anniversary Dinner at the Hotel Atlantic in Wimereux
Sunday
10 - 12.30: Boursot's Wine Collection shop will be open!
You should come!
Christmas Market in Ardres: Lunch Sunday 13 December: Hotel Clément, Ardres
Christmas in Europe - this is our annual Fun Event!
The Ardres Christmas market with all its stalls starts on the Sunday morning but the atmosphere really gets going in the afternoon and when darkness falls, you can see Père Noël abseiling down the church!
That morning I'd suggest you visit the annual Fête de la Dinde (Turkey Festival) in Licques, the leading European village for rearing turkeys and chickens. This traditional occasion was established 300 years ago and this event is free of charge and is full of French pageantry with confrères, bands and majorettes. And then come to lunch in Ardres, 10 minutes away!
After lunch, we can all "do" the Christmas market!
Speaker at the Lunch: Guy Boursot
Tickets: 49€ (about £45 at today's rate) to include 4 courses, 6 wines, water, coffee and all entertainment!
In addition
I have been asked whether we might do a dinner in November - and can now confirm to you the date of Saturday 21st November, but I have still to arrange the place and the theme. I shall write to you again shortly about this.
back to top
Questions & Answers about Boursot Events
We are often asked about our Events and so I shall try and answer some of your questions here.
- Boursot's Events are held in English. You do not need to worry about speaking French!
- Normally we select a fixed four course menu that is accessible to most people, but in the event of an allergy or dislike of a particular dish, it is no problem for us to adjust an individual's menu within reason. Dishes are also selected for their compatibility with the wines being shown.
- To secure your bookings, we request 50% of the ticket price at the time of booking, and then the final 50% is charged on the day. For this purpose we have a secure server where you can safely leave your card details and we will give you details of this on your initial enquiry.
- In terms of what to wear, we suggest you dress as if you were going out to a smart restaurant, which we hope you will be!
- You do not need to know anything about wines but if you enjoy good food, good wine and of course great value, you should enjoy our events. Many people have complimented us on having a fun, relaxed time whilst learning a few interesting facts about wine.
Also, we can and do set up and run these styles of events for private groups in the Pas de Calais area. Tell us what you want to achieve, your budget, how many people and we can do the leg work talking to the restaurants, working out menus, matching interesting wines, providing a speaker if required...
back to top
Recent Events
Alsace Lunch with Nicolas Faller on Sunday 30th August
Last Bank Holiday's lunch was blessed with several good factors - a waterside setting at an old mill, good food, some really interesting wines and a first class speaker. Nicolas Faller from the picturesque town of Ribeauvillé in Alsace, brought with him a passion and an understanding that is rarely seen outside a family wine business.
The House of Robert Faller, passed down from father to son since it was established in 1697, makes it one of the oldest Alsace wine producers. The family owns 11 acres of vineyards including some of the prestigious Grand Cru vineyards of Geisberg and Kirchberg, and they produce wine from all the main Alsace grape varieties: Sylvaner, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Muscat, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Noir (red). All Faller wines are of the classic dry Alsace style, with the exception of their rare Vendanges Tardives and Séléction de Grains Nobles wines, which are lusciously sweet and rate amongst the greatest sweet white wines in the world.
Nicolas Faller introduced each of the six wines being served and explained some of the reasons why Alsace can often be difficult to understand. Talking about everything from the vines' roots to how the wine got into the glass, this lunch was enjoyed by all the people who attended and it helped to broaden people's knowledge on Alsace.
Whilst it was our first attempt at filming one of our events, and we still have much to learn, you can see a two minute compilation of clips of this lunch on this link. You may need to turn up your volume control a little!
Dinner with Martin Krajewski on Saturday 19th September
Martin Krajewski is the owner of two properties in Bordeaux, Château de Sours and Clos Cantenac in Saint-Emilion as well as Songlines vineyard in Australia. Martin told us about some of the highs and lows of running a vineyard, and then explained the background to each of the six wines from his three estates that he had chosen to accompany our four course dinner. We finished the meal with Martin's magnificent Songlines Shiraz made from 100 year old vines at his other vineyard in Australia's McLaren Vale. This red was full of rich fruit flavours yet was well balanced and it should last in the bottle for at least another 20 years. Martin is working here with John Duval who for many years was winemaker for Penfold's Grange Hermitage. Songlines is now widely tipped to be the next "Grange" phenomenon - and you can of course buy it from Boursot's wine list!
We hope to have a video compilation of this dinner's highlights available for you to view shortly on the Events page of our website.
back to top
2009 Harvest News
Thanks to some excellent weather this summer (sorry if you have been caught in the British drear), the harvest around France generally looks to be of good to very good quality, albeit of a reduced quantity due to drought or paradoxically, to this year hail damage. There are a lot of very happy French vineyard owners.
In Alsace the fine weather is still holding up and all Pinot and Muscat have been picked in excellent condition. Yield is down by around 10% due to three cold days during the vines' flowering. The Riesling harvesting is just finishing now although the Grand Crus can wait a little longer. Gewürztraminer started on the 25th and continues through this week.
The fear had been that the acidity in the wines might have dropped too much, thus creating bland wines but it has held up well and all the fruit is of very high quality, to such an extent that some parcels of Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Riesling are being held back in the expectation of creating Vendanges Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles wines, that rank among the worlds greatest sweet white wines.
Bordeaux producers are generally excited by excellent prospects in both red and white; some are even comparing it to 2005 at this early stage. The only blot, especially on the right bank landscape is the hail damage of May that has in some cases eliminated 80% of some properties' crops. There is also a lot of unsold stock lying in Bordeaux.
Burgundy too has just concluded an excellent harvest, although the ripeness of the grapes has been variable. Generalising, 2009 seems as if it will produce full and perfumed styles of wine for those growers who were brave enough to risk waiting for full ripeness. Others who picked too early may suffer from wines that lack structure and that may not be able to age quite so well. A year for careful selection.
The Champagne harvest is now all in and is felt to be of very high quality. The wines will be tasted over the next few weeks and then pronouncements will be made about the quality and the prospects of producing a "vintage" year from the 2009 wine.
This year after some long discussions, the Houses and the growers agreed a 40% yield reduction to a maximum of 9,700 kilos per hectare. Last year's yield stood at 14,200 kilos per hectare producing some 405 million bottles. The growers wanted a yield of 10,400 kilos so as to protect their incomes while the Houses wanted 7,500 kilos so as to reduce their stock holdings. This year's reduction appears to be a good compromise between the growers who own 90% of Champagne vineyards and the Houses who control 80% of the distribution.
We should not expect to see any great price movements over the coming year, although there will always be the occasional crazy offer from a cash-strapped producer.
back to top
News in the World of Wine
It appears that Antonin Rodet, one of the most consistent wine producers in the Côte Chalonnaise in southern Burgundy, is about to be bought by the Boisset group. Boisset already owns a large number of Burgundy names such as Bichot, Bouchard Ainé, Jaffelin, Mommessin, Moreau, Ropiteau and Thorin to name but a few. Rodet appeared to me to lose its sense of direction around 15 years ago when it went out to seek venture capital. By acquiring Rodet, Boisset would also gain Dufouleur, Château de Mercey and Château de Rully: an impressive catch for its already bulging portfolio.
Following a cash-strapped deal between La Chablisienne, the huge co-operative in Chablis, with a UK supermarket at rock bottom prices, there is a local inquiry in progress. There could be potentially troublesome consequences for the collective and its growers.
As intimated last month, the marketing of light weight wine bottles has started in earnest and you can expect to see plastic and lighter weight glass bottles being used increasingly by mass retailers in the UK starting in only a few weeks' time.
back to top
Wine Accessories Book
Many of you came to our Dinner at Le Channel last year with antiques expert Robin Butler as our guest speaker. Robin told us then how he was working on a new book, and I have been fortunate recently to preview his recently finished Great British Wine Accessories 1550 - 1900: a book that will appeal to anyone who is interested in wine. With a foreword by Hugh Johnson, it tells the extraordinary story of the diversity of equipment made for the enjoyment of wine by the British in past centuries. From humble bottles, to extravagant wine coolers crafted in precious metals, and from plain corkscrews to exquisitely engraved wine glasses, Robin has poured his enthusiasm and knowledge into every page.
Over 700 colour images illustrate this lavishly produced volume. There are chapters on bottles, bin labels, corkscrews, wine tasters, wine coolers and cellarets, funnels, decanters, claret jugs, wine labels, coasters, and glasses and goblets. In addition to outlining the pitfalls of fakes and forgeries, the miscellany of champagne accessories, decanting machines and furniture are all lucidly discussed and illustrated also.
In my view, this really is an excellent work and it would make a fantastic and different Christmas present for your wine loving friends. For all further details go to www.gbwa.co.uk.
back to top
New October List
There are several new wines on our October list which you can see here or print directly from here. Among these new wines is Jacky Blot's excellent dry Rémus from his Montlouis vineyard opposite Vouvray, the return of the great value red and white Cote Chalonnaise wines from the Cave de Buxy in Montagny, Martin Krajewski's two legendary Australian wines (see later for this news)
Also we have broadened our champagne selection a little with a Blanc de Blancs from the highly reputed house of Henriot in Reims as well as with the Perrier-Jouët, Grand Brut, the wine that was put on the global map in the 19th century by my forebears in the Boursot family (see the Boursot History page).
For the first time also, you will see two Australian wines on the Boursot list. These are the two legendary wines - Songlines McLaren Vale Shiraz and Bylines Hunter Valley Chardonnay, both of which will improve with further time and are well worth picking up now.
back to top
October Special Offer
Chablis, Henri de Villamont, 2007 at just 7,95€
There is (plenty of) ordinary Chablis on the market and often you would be hard pressed to know whereabouts in the world it came from - but there are also some superb examples with some of the classic Chablis character, and these do not normally come cheap. We have made a one-off purchase of a really good classically dry and minerally Chablis with a full flavour and a very long "finish" or aftertaste.
We are holding down its price for you until the end of October after which, if stocks permit, it will rise to 9,80€.
I strongly recommend this wine and advise you to book your orders as soon as you can whilst there is still stock.
I will e-mail you a short note when the November dinner has been fixed but in the meantime, I look forward to seeing you here again in Ardres very soon.
With all best wishes
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
| 
