The
Wine Connect
2019 Tour de Burgundy.
9th to the 15th June, 2019
Join winemaker Ian Leamon
on a tour of Burgundy where
you will visit some of the
region’s most prestigious houses
and gain
a greater understanding of
the
complexities of
the Burgundy region.
Enjoy seven fabulous
days in Dijon and
Beaune
and Puligny-Montrachet when we visit William
Fevres, Louis Jadot,
Bouchard Pere
et Fils, Joseph Drouhin,
Domaine Faiveley, Domaine Belleville and dine out at some of the best restaurants in Burgundy.
Day
1 Sunday April 7,
2019
Tour members will make their way to Dijon and proceed to our centrally located hotel, The Grand Hotel Le Cloche or equivalent. This will be our hotel for the first night. The remainder of the day
is free to explore Dijon. The
tour
group will come together later in the day for welcome drinks in the
hotel bar. We will then have our first group
dinner together. *Dinner and wines are included in the cost of the tour.
Day
2 Monday April 8 William Fevre, Chablis
After
breakfast we will board the tour bus and drive to the
township of Chablis. It is about a ninety minute bus drive to Chablis from Dijon but the drive will be worth it as we will be visiting, in my
mind, the best producer in Chablis. A tour of the cellars will conclude with a tasting of Premier Cru
and Grand Cru
Chablis before we lunch at an
adjacent restaurant. After lunch
we
will drive to
Beaune
and check into our hotel.
*Lunch and wines
are included in the cost of the tour.
Day
3 Tuesday April 9 Louis Jadot and Domaine Faiveley.
We will take the bus to Maison Louis Jadot which is located a short distance from our hotel in
Beaune. Louis Jadot is an excellent negociant who makes wine from many of the sub regions within Burgundy. The tasting here is a particular high light.
In the afternoon we will visit Domaine Faiveley
in Nuits St Georges. Domaine
Faiveley has recently refurbished their winery in
2018 and it is a wonderful piece
of restoration. This visit will high light
Domaine Faiveley’s production of wines from the Cote D’Or.
The recently renovated winery at Domaine Faiveley.
In
the evening we will dine at Restaurant La Ruchotte. La Ruchotte is a farm restaurant owned
and operated by the chef. Chef Frederic Meneger, worked
in
a number of Michelin starred restaurants in
Paris before deciding to buy a farm and
start his own restaurant in
Burgundy.
Dinner and wines are included in the cost of the tour.
Day
4 Wednesday
April 10 Joseph Drouhin.
We will take the short walk from our hotel to the house of Joseph Drouhin,
home
of the fabulous Clos du
Mouche Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir. Our visit will include
the historic underground cellars
beneath the streets of Beaune. Some of these cellars date back to Roman times. The afternoon is free to explore the beautiful walled town of Beaune and in the evening we will dine at 21 Boulevarde.
*Dinner and wines are included in the cost of the tour.
Historic Roman cellars at Joseph Drouhin.
Day
5 Thursday April 11
Bouchard Pere et Fils and Domaine Faiveley, Cote Chalonnaise.
Bouchard Pere et Fils is located in the heart of Beaune just a short walk from our hotel. This famous and historic house
is in fact located within a part of the ramparts of the ancient walls of Beaune and
touring the cellars will take us through part of these old walls. The tour will conclude with an
extensive tasting of Village,
1er Cru and Grand Cru Burgundies.
In
the afternoon we will take a 35 minute bus ride to Mercurey to the south of Beaune where we will
visit Domaine Faiveley’s Cote Chalonnaise winery and learn more about the Cote Chalonnaise. In the evening we will dine at Ma Cuisine, a local institution and it is always a wonderful night. *Dinner and wines are included in the cost of the tour.
Day
6 Friday April 12. Domaine Belleville and our farewell dinner.
Today we are moving camp again, albeit just for one night as all of our final day’s activities will take
place near the village of Puligny Montrachet so I thought it would be nice to stay the night in the village.
Today will be our last day in Burgundy and we will make our way to the beautiful village of Meursault where we will visit Domaine Belleville. Meursault is
home
to some of my
favourite white
Burgundies and we will see some lovely fresh and vibrant Chardonnays as well as some superb reds
during our visit.
We will then take the short journey to a charming roadside restaurant known as Gout D’Or where we will enjoy the golden taste of Burgundian food before heading to Puligny Montrachet and checking into our hotel.
Tonight we will have our farewell dinner in the hotel’s 1 Michelin star restaurant also known as Le Montrachet. The Age travel section asked
Jacques Reymond where he likes to eat when he returns to his native Burgundy and his reply was, “I always dine at Le Montrachet when I visit Beaune” and so it will be for us.
*Dinner is included in the cost of the tour.
Day
7 Saturday April 13 to the Dijon railway station.
Tour Guide- Ian Leamon
Tour members will be driven to
the
Dijon railway
station by bus where you can continue your travels in France or catch a return train to Paris. Or you may
wish to
travel to
the south
of France
by rail. Should you
wish to continue your journey from Dijon by means other than train then you will find that many hire car companies are located at or close
Winemaker Ian Leamon is your tour guide. Ian was involved in the establishment of his family’s
vineyard and winery, Chateau Leamon in 1972.
He
then studied
winemaking at Charles
Sturt
University and has been
making wine for more than thirty years.
Ian is
a
founding partner
of
Champagne Connection
and
Wine
Connect
and he has travelled
extensively throughout the wine regions of France over the past thirty plus years. Ian first visited
Burgundy in 1985 and
has returned
on a
regular basis since that initial visit.
Ian
also imports champagne to
Australia and he
visits
Champagne on an annual basis. Ian has twice
worked vintage in Champagne, in 1985 for
Veuve Clicquot in the village of Bouzy and in 2007 with the Loriot family at Champagne Joseph Loriot-Pagel in the village of Festigny.
Ian
is an experienced tour director, having conducted tours to Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy since 2010. Altogether Ian has visited France on
an
annual basis since 2000 and
has built up an excellent understanding of the Burgundy region.
Meals.
The tour offers breakfast on a daily basis plus one other meal, either lunch or dinner each day. Rarely do we offer a third
meal
on the same day.
We do this for two reasons.
1. Group meals tend to be large meals and
if we had two
such
meals in one day
then people start to
feel weighed
down by their food and wine.
2. Sometimes tour members like to take the opportunity to have a free evening on their own and choose their own
restaurants.
Tour Accommodation
We have selected four and five star hotels for the tour. All hotels have clean and
modern facilities and
breakfast is provided at each hotel on the tour.
Tour Costs
The
tour is a land only package and costs $5,700 per person twin
share or $6,700 for a single
traveller.
We
understand that many tour members will be extending their time in Europe beyond the length of
the
Burgundy tour. For example some tour members may
wish to travel in
Europe prior to the
commencement of the Burgundy tour in Dijon or they may wish to continue their holiday after the
tour
concludes. Either way we feel that it will be easier for tour members to make their own flight
arrangements with their preferred carrier.
Included in the tour price;
• Tour leadership.
• Accommodation in
four star hotels including breakfast each
day.
• Two
lunches and five dinners including our farewell celebration dinner at Le Montrachet. All dinners include premium quality wines carefully selected by Ian Leamon.
• Entrance and tasting fees at all wineries visited.
• Bus
transport within
Burgundy
Not
included in the tour price.
• Airfares
• Airport Transfers.
• Passport and
visa fees.
• Travel insurance.
• International airport and
general travel taxes.
• Sightseeing and
general expenses not specified in
the itinerary.
• Lunches and dinners unless where specified.
• Laundry
• Items
of a personal nature including drinks and snacks consumed from the mini bar in your
hotel room.
• Additional travel arrangements.
General Information and booking conditions.
Champagne Connection Pty Ltd
ABN
90190711630 is the tour operator.
**Deposits and Payments. A deposit of $2,500
per
person is required
at
the time of booking.
Full
payment will be required by 14 February 2019.
**Cancellations. Cancellations advised more than 60 days from the date of the tour commencement will incur a cancellation fee of $500 per person. Cancellations advised
less than 60 days prior to
the date of commencement of the tour will result in the loss of all monies paid. Travel insurance is strongly recommended to cover the cost of cancellation fees that could result from a death in the family, illness etc.
In the event that you cancel and another person is able to take your place then all monies will be
refunded. This may be possible up
to 90 days prior to
the
commencement of the tour.
Whilst it may be possible to find a replacement for the tour it should be noted that your airfare cannot be transferred to another name.
A $100 administrative fee will apply where a cancellation
is
offset with
a replacement.
Please note that cancellation of the tour applies exclusively to the land component of your trip. Airfares come with their own conditions and
cancellation/changes of airfares will be completely
separate from the Champagne Connection tour. It should be remembered that the Champagne Connection tour commences and finishes in Dijon. Conditions
of airfares will be advised at the time of airfare purchase.
Refunds The
tour is
based
on
arrangements that do not allow for
any refunds in
respect of sightseeing, accommodation, meals, transport or other services not utilized after the tour has commenced.
Travel Documents. All passengers will need to be in possession of a valid passport with more than six (6) months validity from
return date. Passengers holding other than Australian passports should check
visa requirements with
their travel agent when they book their flights.
Changes to the Tour Itinerary.
Champagne Connection reserves the right to make changes to the
tour
itinerary to fit in with operational requirements. Any changes to the itinerary will be replaced with similar arrangements with
an equal or greater value.
How to Book.
Bookings can be made by completing both pages below and signing the booking form and submitting them to Ian Leamon at Champagne Connection. Ian will then issue you with an invoice for your
deposit of $2,500 per person. Payment can be made by Visa or Master Card. Payment by credit card will attract a
2% fee.
There is no
fee for a personal cheque or EFT direct deposit.
Bank details
BSB: 633 000 ACC: 148168735 Account Name: Champagne Connection REF: clients surname.
Cheques can be made out to
Champagne connection and posted to;
Champagne Connection
PO Box 487
Bendigo Victoria. Australia 3552
Tour Numbers
The
tour is limited to a total of sixteen (16) guests. Bookings will be taken on a first come first served basis. The booking will not be secured until
the deposit of $2,500
per person has been paid.
Booking; Bookings are now open and will continue until all 16
places are filled.
Please Note.
Travel Insurance
We strongly recommend that
you take out personal travel insurance at the time you book your tour. The cost
of the tour does not cover you for travel insurance. For your protection we recommend that you purchase adequate comprehensive insurance that includes coverage for medical expenses, loss of luggage,
land content
as well as airfare charges that may occur due to cancellation, loss of deposit, volcanic activity or strikes.
Caution
Please note that visits to some wineries will involve the climbing of stairs which will require tour members to be capable of such a task.
To
make a booking for the 2019 Tour de
Burgundy please download and fill out the forms (download link above). band return to champagneconnection@gmail.com and I
will
issue
you with an
invoice for the tour.
To
secure your place on the tour please complete these forms and send
them with your deposit to
Champagne Connection
PO Box 487
Bendigo Victoria.
Australia 3552 or
Fax 03 54 41 48 41
