davidandrose
Posts: 16
Joined: 12/31/2006
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Want to again thank everyone who contributed ideas and close the loop by sharing our trip and hot spots.
We flew in/out of LHR as that was where UA could confirm upgrades upon purchase. We began our return flight at Brussels with an overnight stay at LHR; making LHR a connection instead of originating our return saved $600+/pp based on UK's airport taxes and ticket cost for that routing.
After NYE in London we flew into Nantes, picked up a O/W rental car, and stayed in an old chateau 20 mins north for a restaurant we wanted to hit. The next day we toured Chenonceau and visited two small producers in Vouvray, Cave de Vouvray (enjoyable) and Cave des Producteurs de Vouvray, which is a higher volume operation buying fruit from a variety of growers as well as providing facilities to independent winemakers. Wine was okay and generally a time-filler at the end of the day. We spent two nights in Amboise staying at Ch. de Pray, a 13th century chateau just outside of town. The property had a nice balance of renovations without eliminating its old world charm, and a Michelin one-star restaurant half-housed in caves. We visited Ch. Chambord, Marc Bredif and Domaine Huet in Vouvray on subsequent days, and really enjoyed our tastings and at both properties. Thanks for these reco’s, with Aubert Family another solid local find.
Given how little white wine we have in our cellar and how much we enjoyed the Vouvrays we bucked the trend and spent almost two days in Sancerre, staying in the Old City. Famille Bourgeois was a great find and we really enjoyed our host who did some barrel samples and opened nearly a dozen bottles. This was the only winery that offered volume discounts and we “bit the hook” buying a mixed case of Pinots and Sauv Blancs. We visited and purchased from several other small, family wineries in/around Sancerre, but Philippe Raimbault was our other “ka-ching” find in the area. They produce Sancerre’s and Pouilly Fume’s and some pinots. We tasted through 10 wines with their 13th generation winemaker, and they have an amazing display of sea creature fossils they’ve found in their soil.
We then headed to Eperney, staying and sampling at Champagne Philippe Martin. While most major champagne houses were shuttered this was our 2nd visit to the area and really just a casual 1.5 days/2 nights and great dining as we headed towards Brussels. Cordon-Didierlaurent was our other great find, about 20 mins outside of Eperney. We spent two hours tasting, using google-translate when my rusty French didn't connect with their winemaker, who stood-in when his English-fluent brother had to cancel at the last minute. He also gave us a few airplane-safe 12 bottle shippers, allowing us to consolidate some of the 6 bottle shippers we had found earlier. In all we sherpa’d home 4.5 cases on “the Friendly Skies” and if it weren’t winter with heavy coats requiring that we bring a large bag that had to be checked, we’d have checked 6 cases, our free limit on United.
While it was a really slow time with some villages appearing to be shuttered and many wineries and some restaurants closed, we had little problem finding producers who were willing to meet with us. Almost every experience was very personal, personable and likely included more wines than we would have sampled in prime season, the few chateaux we toured we nearly had to ourselves, and the storied chateau hotels where we chose to say were insane values priced between $120-200/nt depending on the town. Truly appreciate contributions from the community. Now we just have to increase consumption as we’re well-out-of-space with another 8 1/2 cases awaiting pickup in Napa and Washington. And of course return during a future Spring or Fall to see more Chateaux when their gardens are blooming, and replenish whatever we drink!! My wife fell love with Sauv Blanc, a varietal she has traditionally disliked.
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