Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Chablis & Champagne

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Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Chablis & Champagne

Vines

Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Chablis & Champagne

Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Chablis & Champagne

26 - 30 May 2007, 26 - 30 May 2008

The most popular white wines from France come from this beautiful region of Northern Burgundy for Chablis, and the Eastern Loire for Sancerre & Pouilly-Fumé. This Whitsun break takes in these two regions and also stops off in Troyes, the capital of the Aube, in Southern Champagne.

We travel down to the region by coach and to make the journey go with a swing, we taste some wines en route. Our base is a charming Manor House hotel in the picturesque town of Auxerre. The medieval town centre on the banks of the River Yonne has a skyline dominated by three magnificent church spires.

From here we spend our days visiting and tasting with first class producers who make top quality wines that you can stock up on for your summer drinking at great prices.

Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard have a wine-making philosophy that relies strongly on the importance of the soil on the style of the wines. We are enthusiastically received by many generations of the Dampt family at Emmanuel Dampt and try his excellent value Tonnerre and a fine ‘Vieilles Vignes’ Chablis.

Our next visit is in the Eastern Loire. We visit the lovely estate of Château de Tracy for really top quality Pouilly-Fumé. Then, in the hilltop town of Sancerre, we enjoy a rustic lunch of local specialities including the Sancerrois goat’s cheese “Crottin de Chavignol” at Joseph Mellot.

It’s not all white wines. We taste the red Sancerre made from Pinot Noir, which can be a pretty serious wine, especially in the kind of hot vintages that we have had recently. We also visit the Bourgogne-Irancy appellation, where at Caves Leon Bienvenu we see that these can be top notch red Burgundies, especially the two ‘single vineyard’ selections.

In the afternoon we drive into the neighbouring wine region - Champagne. This is the southern corner of the Champagne region in the Aube department. Here our visit is to old friends Lacroix-Triaulaire. We are based in Troyes, which has a very attractive old town centre, with beautiful streets lined with half-timbered houses dating from medieval times. On our return journey we stop off in Champagne’s Côte des Blancs for a visit, tasting and lunch with André Jacquart et fils.

This tour offers the opportunity to see some of France’s most charming towns whilst enjoying some delicious wines en route

It is possible to join this tour on Location. Clients who take these self drive options have often driven from other parts of Europe or from the North of England perhaps making it part of a longer holiday. Alternatively you can easily join this tour by train from Paris.