Newsletters

September 2014

Bonjour!

Here is our newsletter which as always we hope you will enjoy and find useful. You will of course notice that its format has changed this month so as to be easier for you to dive into to pick up any relevant information.

As you probably realise, there are certain items that appear in each newsletter, such as our calendar of Gourmet Dinners, which is updated each month, while there are other parts that, being topical, are completely rewritten each month - such as the long-standing and popular "Views on the World of Wine". Other items are more static, designed to help you with such matters as opening hours, directions, details of vineyard tours, our wine list and so on…

So we hope that you find this new format helpful and we will be interested to hear what you think. Our previous newsletter formula had been running for over eight years, and whilst I know that it was popular with many of you, I was aware that some people never read them. So, if you feel that one format or another / more emphasis on one aspect than another, would appeal to you more, please let me know so that we can adapt to your majority preferences. We await your feedback!

General

At the moment the euro rate is just over 1.25 to the pound.

The rates of UK duty before VAT are now £2.05 per bottle of still wine and £2.63 on each bottle of sparkling wine. This tax forms part of the cost price, so retailers have to calculate their margin on that higher cost, so the difference becomes even greater. Add 20% VAT then to both the duty and to the value of the wine and you have ... a really unhappy situation for UK wine drinkers.

In France there is only a negligible rate of duty on wine, thanks to the country being a major supplier of wine. So, its tax still remains at a comparatively non-existent rate of around 3p per bottle! You get a lot more wine for your money in France.

With the average sale price of a bottle of wine in the UK being £5.03, this means that around 65% of the cost of that bottle is now consumed in tax.

Some of you enjoy the lower expenditure while others spend the same on your bottle as you might in the UK, but by buying at Boursot's Wine Collection in France, you get a far superior quality and value. With a range starting at under £3 per bottle, Boursot's has developed a reputation for offering French wines of reliably good quality and value. Boursot's Wine Collection has taken some of the confusion and risk out of seeking and buying decent French wines, and with its Brit owner and English speaking staff, you will always receive good advice. Often you can taste the wines too.

On our list you get a good selection of French wines here in Ardres with some huge savings over UK prices. You can rest assured that all the wines on this list, starting at just 3,70€ (around £2.90) 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.

Many of you say the same thing – voiced by one happy customer 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".

We host a number of high quality wine dinners at some top local restaurants – and we have some especially entertaining events coming up over the coming months. You should come, so please see in te relevant section below for more details.

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.

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Boursot's Reduced Cross Channel Fares

We have arranged for you as a Boursot customer reduced fares with P&O until 31st March 2015. For a day trip or overnight trip (meaning returning before midnight the following day), your return fare will be just £22. There is normally a small supplement between £3 and £5 for travelling on a Saturday.

The Afternoon Return Fare is £17, except between April and October when the price is £19. This means departure after midday and returning before midnight. So, after buying your wines in Ardres, you should also be able to fit in some fine dining!

These special rates are exclusive to Boursot's and apply to on-line bookings for a car and up to 4 passengers and can be accessed through this link or on the Offers page of our website. Our promotional code is boursot. As always, there may be some specific £5 supplement days but provided there is availability and that you're travelling in a standard car, you will pay these low rates.

You should book at least 24 hours in advance so as to take advantage of this P&O offer. We hope you find this helpful.

In case you didn't know it already, we should point out that Tesco clubcard points can be exchanged for Eurotunnel tickets, although it may not be possible to use these in conjunction with any other Offer.

You may have seen that Eurotunnel has bought part of the old SeaFrance fleet, which has been smartened up and is being leased to a workers' group based in Calais. Having travelled on this line recently, I was struck by the improvement in quality over the old SeaFrance operation. Myferrylink.com is the name of the new company and you can find some attractive prices with them. You get no prizes for guessing their web address!

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Boursot's Hotel Offers

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. 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 certain days over the Christmas period).

We are very fortunate to be in an area with several good eating establishments at all different price levels, so do ask us if you would like a recommendation.

If you are a "foodie" we are pleased to bring you our Special Offer from the 4 star Hostellerie de 3 Mousquetaires which is just 30 minutes' south of Ardres on the outskirts of Aire sur la Lys. Here you will enjoy a cosy atmosphere and fine innovative cuisine as many of you have discovered already. Chef proprietor David Wojtkowiak worked at the Berkeley Hotel in London before setting up his own restaurants in northern France and so speaks good English.

This offer is available to you during the week but not at weekends. Normally a room for two would cost from 115€, breakfast 15€ per person and dinner typically 45€ per person: total 235€. The offer to Boursot's Wine Collection customers is an all-in price of dinner, bed and breakfast for two at 95€ per person. Dinner is a set option and we have heard many glowing reports from those of you who have taken up this Offer. When you book, you must mention Boursot's Wine Collection to get these special terms. You can call on +33 321 39 01 11 or there is a booking form on:- www.hostelleriedes3mousquetaires.com/fr/reservations.php.

Also, as a Boursot's Wine Collection customer, you have access to reduced rates at the 4 star Hôtel Château Tilques between here and Saint-Omer. Here they are giving you a special price on their superior "Luxe" room at 159€ per double or twin room (or 135€ per single room) any night of the week. While you may see a "special price" on their own and some other websites, that price excludes breakfast at 16€ per person whereas our Offer includes it.

When booking, please mention Boursot to get your special rates.

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Boursot's Wine Related Giftware: www.grapesandvines-giftdesigns.co.uk

Our specially designed Cellar Books are proving popular for those who wish to keep a record of their purchases and cellar contents. Made for us in Britain, these are practical as well as aesthetically pleasing. Unlike many other types of cellar book on the market, our cellar books are loose leaf, and hand bound with marbled paper and are available in three different colours. A Boursot's Cellar Book makes a fantastic gift for any wine lover.

Click on the Cellar Book underlined link above to view more information.

Our full selection of items is available in the Ardres shop, including wine-related gifts such as USB flash drives disguised as corks, framed copies of our exclusive Nick Newman wine cartoons, wine map tea towels, silver tastevin cufflinks, decanters, Screwpull wine accessories and many more.

Do also take a look at the G&V Blog, which includes articles about wine, recipes using wine and product information. Please feel free to add your comments and suggestions, as we welcome your interaction.

New items appear regularly so do please keep coming back or sign up via this page to receive direct updates via ezine or Twitter.

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Your Own Events in France

Depending on whether you would like it, one of us can talk a little about the various wines being served, probably concluding with some entertaining words about what's going on currently in the wine world. 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.

"Many thanks for arranging our recent visit to Ardres. Everyone enjoyed themselves so much they want to come again." CW, Fetcham U3A.

You can also enjoy tastings, presentations or general events in our recently restored vaulted cellars under our shop. If you should be interested in holding a tasting or other event for up to 35 people in our cellars, please say and we will be happy to reserve the space for you.

Additionally we have been pleased to incorporate some accompanied vineyard visits for some groups as part of their overall trip to France. Typically a visit to Champagne going behind the scenes and meeting the producers involving two nights, two dinners, two lunches and all visits starts at around £350 per person. So do ask us if a visit to a French vineyard area could be of interest for your group.

And finally, I am of course always happy to travel to you to present wine related events to your groups or dinners, or simply to be your after-dinner speaker with a difference! I have a lot of experience in this, and this is one reason, I imagine, why many clients ask me back to speak year after year.

Do please contact me by phone or through my speaker website guy@boursot.com to explore your options.

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Forthcoming Boursot Events

Boursot's dinners are held for our British customers and so of course are always conducted in English. They usually feature a wine-related guest speaker. Pretty much everything is taken care of, starting with our specially arranged crossing prices with P&O, through to a bubbly reception, followed by a four course dinner designed to go well with at least five more wines. Generally, we can also arrange nearby accommodation for you, so that most of the time all you need do after dinner is totter upstairs (perhaps via the bar?)!

All in all, the Boursot events are designed to be friendly and enjoyable while offering phenomenal value. We take a private room where we normally restrict numbers to around 40, so as to retain a convivial atmosphere. Great food, great wine and great company. Dress is not formal and we suggest that you dress as if you were going out to a smart restaurant – which we hope you will be! All you need to do now is to come along and enjoy!

Vegetarian and alternative food options can be provided, as long as we receive ample advance notice. If a planned guest speaker is unable to attend, we will endeavour to find another speaker and if none is available, Guy Boursot will present the talk. All our events are arranged to be enjoyable, interesting and of course, unstuffy.

Boursot's Wine Collection is open on the Sunday mornings after a Saturday evening dinner.

Perhaps you have an anniversary to celebrate or you just want to get away for a quick change of scenery? And of course, you are most welcome to bring some friends.

Please contact us on ardres@boursot.co.uk or on +33 321 36 81 46 to book for any of our events below.

Saturday 27th September: "The effects of global climate change on vineyards – what might we expect during our lifetimes?" with Guy Boursot at Hôtel Château Cléry, Hesdin l'Abbé

With climate having been so much in the news, we will discuss the changes already affecting the wines that we drink and what we might expect, good and bad, in the coming years.

With the excellent food and comfortable rooms provided by Château Cléry, this should be a lovely evening and could make a good basis for your weekend's activities along the coast near Boulogne. Dinner tickets will be 89€ per person to include 4 courses and 6 wines.

As usual, we have blocked off a number of bedrooms at the hotel so do please say if you would like us to give you a room from our allocation.

This dinner is currently at 65% occupancy so there is still time to reserve your places.

Saturday 18th October: Boursot's Eighth Anniversary Dinner hosted by Guy Boursot at The Hotel Atlantic, Wimereux

During the day, there will be a tasting of several new wines in Boursot's cellars under the Ardres shop. And in the evening, Boursot's will be hosting a Gourmet Dinner at the Hotel Atlantic on the seafront in Wimereux. The food at the Atlantic is of very high quality and with our great wines, we can be assured of a lovely evening.

Over several years, we have had an invited guest speaker on this special anniversary evening. However, there have been several requests to have Guy Boursot talk again at this dinner, impartially about wine in his capacity as an entertaining wine writer, so this year he will be the speaker. We have blocked off a few bedrooms at the hotel so do please say if you would like us to give you a room from our allocation. Additionally, there are many other hotels and B&Bs where you can stay within easy walking distance.

Tickets will be 89€ per head to cover at least 4 courses, 6 wines and all entertainment!

This dinner is currently at 50% occupancy so we suggest reserving your places as soon as you can.

Saturday 15th November: "How the quality wines of Alsace are gradually winning over the world" with Nicolas Faller at Hôtel Château Tilques, Saint-Omer

Back by popular demand, Nicolas Faller is unusual in that he is an international banker while running the wine making Robert Faller & Fils in Ribeauvillé, Alsace. Nicolas Faller entertained many of us last year, describing how he managed to combine his two worlds and how his life in banking complemented his "other" winemaking life.

This year, he will be telling us about how Alsace wines, while being acclaimed by those in the wine business, have always had a cautious reception from customers around the world. Quality is better than ever and there are now few people who could deny that the area produces some of the world's great unique flavours. What has changed?

We will of course be organising a menu with some Alsace specialities that will accompany the Alsace wine choices.

Tickets will be 86€ per head to cover at least 4 courses, 6 wines and all entertainment!

This dinner is currently at 40% occupancy so we suggest reserving your places as soon as you can.

Sunday 7th December: Ardres Christmas Market Lunch at the Restaurant François Premier, Ardres

So easily accessible from Britain, the town of Ardres always injects some fun and colour into an otherwise grey time of the year.

As last year, the annual Turkey Festival held about 20 minutes away in Licques, will NOT be happening on the same day but on the following Sunday. So, in place of that entertainment, we will have wines available to taste in the cellars under our Ardres shop from 10.30 on the morning of Sunday 7th, and then we will go across to lunch at 12.30 at the François Premier which hardly needs any introduction, being one of the finest restaurants of this area. Being situated on Ardres' main cobbled square, you will be in front of much of the afternoon's action, so you may be able to watch some of it from the warmth of the restaurant!

The informal three course lunch will be preceded by a bubbly reception and then accompanied by a further five Boursot wines, and everything costs just 60€ (around £48 at today's rate). I will tell you about the backgrounds of the wines being served.

We suggest you "do" the Ardres Christmas Market after lunch by which time everyone's spirits will have been warmed up! Père Noel is normally found to be abseiling down the outside of the church at around 6pm, throwing goodies to many of the local children gathered below!

This event is now sold out but as in previous years we are maintaining a waiting list, as cancellations often arise, so do please do not hesitate to get your name down on that list and we will let you know as soon as vacancies arise.

The following dates may also be of interest and as soon as further details are available, we will let you know:-

Saturday 24th January: Boursots' Blues Buster Dinner: Venue To Be Arranged

Saturday 21st March: A Dinner of Fine Burgundies with Maison Faiveley: Venue To Be Arranged

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Views on 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. Here is a collection of my latest thoughts.

In many parts of France, the growers have been itching to get out and start picking their grapes. Temperatures have been wavering over the last month and there have been several storms and while the risk of hail damage was ever present, as it turned out there was not too much damage. For example, in parts of Burgundy, an area to which I am particularly close, a month's worth of rain fell in just 12 hours during August. We live in times of changed weather conditions and if their effects on the wine world should be of interest to you, you should come to our dinner on Saturday 27th September to hear me talk about climate change in the context of wine, as advertised in the Dinners section above.

Here is a very quick round-up of thoughts on this 2014 harvest from those of our producers who have managed to turn their minds away from what they have in hand!

Christophe Mingeaud from Châteauneuf du Pape in the southern Rhône reports:
"The 2014 Vintage seems to be another challenging vintage following 2012 and 2013. After an inconsistent Spring, mixed between cold, wet days and sunny warm days with not enough Mistral in the middle encouraging mold to develop, we had a very average summer with a lot of rain during July and early August. So it has been a difficult viticultural year where one couldn't lack attention in the vines as the pressure was important.

My personal feeling is that it will be close to 2012 as we had a very similar season that year, the only difference is that 2012 was a very small crop and 2014 is a lot more generous."

Nicolas Faller from Robert Faller et Fils in Ribeauvillé, Alsace reports:
After the lack of winter, we have had a very hot spring, humid July and hot August – the balance between sugar and acidity is ok and the vintage could be very good quality – quantity wise it's a good average of the last 30 years in term of yield. We have started the 9/9 for Cremants and AOC the 15/9 – we won't start Grand Crus before 22/9 at best as the alcohol is increasing well at the moment.

No issues have been noticed in term of disease like Mildew or Oidium – However the harvest are quite challenging and selection of grapes has to be done because of areas that are impacted by acetic sting (due to hot September). Riesling is likely to be extremely good due to good acidity and strong body. Too early to know if it will be a good year for Vendanges Tardives – decision will have to be made in 2 weeks from now.

Martin Krajewski, owner of Château de Sours in Bordeaux, reports:
Wednesday 3rd September and we're off ! The morning temperature was a little cold but it soon warmed up and we had bright blue skies all day long with not a cloud in sight. These are the sort of days that we long for at this time of year! By 5pm we had 31 tonnes of Merlot in the press and by 7pm the juice had been macerated sufficiently to extract the colour we wanted and then run off into cuvee resulting in almost 225hl of wonderful pale pink juice which will eventually form the base wine for our Sparkling Rosé. Perfect - all we need now is another month of good weather !

Benoit Marguet of Grand Cru Champagne Marguet uses just three words: "Harvest is great!"

This year's weather conditions in Italy, especially in the south, have not been so good. Prospects are for the smallest harvest in 64 years. Italy's wet weather during July caused grapes to rot and this has led to a significant reduction in potential volume. However the country's 200,000 producers are still harvesting so we wait to see what will be the final outcome. Over many decades Italy has been the largest producer of wine in the world but this year it seems at this early stage that France will overtake it with a harvest of both good quantity and decent quality – something that is uncommon these days.

There have been mutterings in France about the effects of the Chinese slowdown (I have written here previously about the anti-ostentation drive from the Chinese government) which has had a very real effect on the high value Bordeaux and Cognac markets in particular. Those of us who may have been in the wine trade for long enough have come to know that the majority of such "new" phenomena are cyclical. The more savvy producers are not complaining – the prospects were too good to be true and many of them have done very well out of the Asian market over the recent years. The Asian market has not gone away; it is simply evolving.

A few years ago it always amazed me how the cognac market had reinvented itself so successfully when spirits seemed to be in such decline. Tightening drink driving laws and a general shift in the mature market from spirits to lighter alcoholic drinks such as wine, led me to believe that "spirits" was a dying category. But no, these huge drinks companies managed to invent new recipes for mixing cognac in ways that none of us had ever dreamed of! The producers dusted off the starchy image and made them trendy; they opened up fresh export markets, created and marketed ready-mix cocktails, primarily to a younger market. And now many of these cognac producers that had created such a premium quality image for themselves in Asia are "suffering" thanks to the Chinese move away from ostentation. Methinks they can survive!

One could not help but smirk at British MPs' recent call for health warnings to be printed on wine labels, yet absolutely no talk of tackling one main root of the problem, the huge spirit companies marketing the alcopops which, with their fruit and alcohol mixtures, are specifically targeted at young drinkers; or the pub and retail companies that promote these as well as their half price offers. With these companies, I still feel the words "too big and powerful to reproach" remain the key. So I really can't understand how words on a wine label will do anything more than pay lip service towards solving "a crisis of problem drinking".

Many of you will recall that I wrote some months ago that Faiveley in Bourgogne had acquired Domaine Dupont-Tisserandot in the village of Gevrey-Chambertin. Now they have acquired the much respected Chablis producer, Billaud-Simon. I doubt whether the cash-rich Faiveley family will stop there, especially in the light of some producers' poor recent harvests and the sheer fragmentation of the Burgundy market. We are planning another dinner with one of the directors of Faiveley in March 2015 when we should hear more about the "new" Faiveley, one of Burgundy's great wine producers.

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Wine Tourism

Whilst much of Europe has been relatively slow to catch on, nowadays France'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 and whilst you can try dropping in on whoever might see you, increasingly many top domaines will only see you as part of an officially recognised group. In addition, many of the large producers have managed to dumb down their tours for visitors with absolutely no wine knowledge to such an extent that you would probably feel disappointed if you know anything about wine, as clearly you do. It is increasingly clear that you need a specialist to get you behind the doors that are closed to everyone else.

Having visited the quality vineyards over many years, I set up Over The Top Tours some years ago to share my experiences with groups of interested customers. So if you should like to visit one of France's viticultural areas, have a look at www.overthetoptours.net – you will be taken behind the scenes in many of the great vineyard areas where you will meet and often dine with some of the producers. Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Languedoc, Loire, Rhône and the South West are all areas that we visit and where we have great contacts who are happy to greet and inform you, as well as invite you to taste a wide selection of their wines.

Fine dining is also included as it goes hand in hand with good wine!

We tailor private tours specific to your preferences, so if you have a group of friends or colleagues whom you would like to get together on a vineyard tour, please do contact me on info@overthetoptours.net and we can start working out a schedule and budget. Do remember however that weekends, and especially Sundays, are often not good times for visits, as so many vineyards are small hands-on enterprises and do not employ teams of PR personnel to show you around!

Ideal sized groups are between 12 and 26 adults and typically two nights away with all meals and visits start at around £350. We plan the trip with you and make the bookings for you, so all you need do is to come along and enjoy a thoroughly memorable trip.

As you will see from our website, we also organise battlefield tours around northern France.

A couple of testimonials:
"People are still talking about the wine trip. Those that went have had great fun telling those that didn't just what they missed. The 49 wines tasted have somehow become 100 and the light lunches and dinners magnified out of all proportion. We must think about the next place to take them another year." JM – May 2012

Our group of eight recently spent three days in Burgundy with the hope of trying to broaden our understanding of the wines and the region. Having used guides before we had found that guides can be overly technical and insist on telling you what they know rather than what you are interested in. Through Over The Top Tours we struck 'gold' and found their guide Ursula and in doing so found someone who really knows their subject matter but also someone who was all about making sure we enjoyed ourselves during the process as well which given our diverse group was not easy. It's fair to say that Ursula made our trip to Burgundy and we would all unreservedly recommend her and Over The Top Tours to anyone thinking of visiting Burgundy. ND – September 2013

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TripAdvisor, and E-mail

In case you thought that TripAdvisor was only for hotels and restaurants, think again! It has "Things to do" and "Attractions" sections so if you are particularly happy with what we do, please help us by telling others - by posting your comments on TripAdvisor. This link will take you directly to our page. Your positive input will be most gratefully received. In most cases, one does not know who the contributors are because they use a pen name, but to those 35 people who have already put up favourable reviews, thank you very much. It all helps.

Hotmail.com and aol.com have particularly vicious spam filters which reject many mailshots, even though you might have requested to be mailed. So if you know of another Boursot customer who is not receiving our monthly e-mails, please ask him or her to check with us – perhaps it's because of these filters that they are not receiving our mailings, but we can also check the address that we have on file. Also, if you are about to change your e-mail provider, please don't forget to advise us of your new address so we can update your records.

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Holidays

In case you should be travelling to France and wish to have some good wines available for you to enjoy while you are away, you can have your requirements delivered to your French address by going to our French e-commerce website www.boursot.fr. The process should be self-explanatory but do call or e-mail us if you need help.

Boursot's Wine Collection does not close for holidays and is open as usual every day except Sundays. It is also open every Bank Holiday - French or British (with the exception of a few days around Christmas).

Please let us know if you should like to visit outside our normal opening hours; with a little advance notice, often 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 New List

You can always see Boursot's latest list on this link and if you would like to print it, it's available on this link. The list is updated monthly but in the event that you see a previous version of the price list, try pressing Ctrl and F5 simultaneously on your computer so as to refresh the page.

If there is something that attracts your eye now, and that you'd like us to put on one side for you, just say and we'll be happy to arrange it.

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 Rhône and Minervois, most of which are in wooden boxes at very sensible prices. As with our wine-related accessories, these make impressive and unusual gifts.

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In Conclusion

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, has been growing and is finding a wider audience with each passing month. Thank you.

We do not advertise and it is unlikely that you will read a review on us in the British media. 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 help us by telling your wine loving friends, or you could refer your friends to our "Receive Monthly Newsletter" button on the home page of www.boursot.co.uk. And mention us on TripAdvisor. 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.

If you are returning from a holiday, Boursot's Wine Collection is situated just off the old main north-south road (RN943) and is just 5 minutes north of Junction 2 of the A26. Then from Ardres to the port or the tunnel in Calais takes 15 minutes on the RN943.

Jean-Bertrand, Antoine, Bruno and I 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.

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A bientôt!

With all best wishes
Guy

Guy Boursot
Wine Consultants SARL