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Champagne Escapes - Grape weekends in Champagne
We are a specialist wine tour operator offering a broad selection of
holidays, trips and wine tasting weekends to the vineyard regions of France. With flexible trips,
personal service and a passion for customer delight we offer a range of
Champagne Breaks for individuals, groups and companies. On this page you will find
details of our standard Champagne weekends for individuals. Alternatively,
please visit our main site for details of the full range of products and destinations offered. |
In 2009, there will be at least one Champagne tour every weekend from April to October. In response to customer demand, we have increased the number of deluxe tours to 7 and plans are underway for a very special 4 night trip this autumn to visit the most exclusive Champagne Houses. We have two new tours for 2009 - the Meet the Maker tour, and credit crunch tour, and will be continuing our ever popular prestige, adventure, and harvest tours.
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Stop Press - Credit Crunch Champagne Tour
We understand that the current global economic situation has affected many people’s travel plans; however at Grape Escapes, we believe that the solution to most problems includes a glass of Champagne and that the best solution will usually include several glasses. We have therefore put together a package that offers a good introduction to Champagne at a very competitive price.
Whilst this package doesn’t offer the incredible dining experiences, the fantastic personalities of the Champagne makers and the very wide range of Champagnes that we offer on our other tours, it does include the opportunity to visit both a family run Champagne House and a prestigious Champagne House together with a great Champagne tasting lunch / dinner.
From only £179! Taste Champagnes in the vineyards and Champagne Houses, 3 course lunch with 3 Champagnes, coach and guide for half a day, 2 nights hotel with breakfast. Call us NOW on 08456 430 860 to find out more! Available Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and selected Saturdays.
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Champagne
The very name is synonymous with celebration; it is the wine of kings and the king of wines. Champagne-Ardenne is a very special place for the connoisseur of fine wines. The region abounds in lakes, forests, pretty floral villages and steep hillsides covered in the precious vines. Underneath this chalk and limestone, hundreds of miles of rock have been excavated to provide underground galleries for the housing and maturing of the wine.
Reims, the city of kings and the gateway to Champagne is less than 2 ½ hours drive from Calais and an ideal location for a Grape Weekend. The city is home to no less than 3 UNESCO world heritage sites, including one of the finest gothic cathedrals in northern Europe where 25 kings of France were crowned.
The region is rich in possibilities, from cultural tours in the city to walking and cycling among the vines. Alternatively, for a truly unique experience, try abseiling 30 metres into the cellars of a Champagne maker or learning the art of sabrage - taking the top off your Champagne bottle in exuberant style - with a Sabre.
The Wines
Champagne is the most famous of all sparkling wines. Blended from base wines using up to three different grape varieties (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) and grown in many different vineyards, the best Champagne houses use as many as 100 different base wines to ensure the consistency of their non vintage Champagne each year. The blanc de blanc Champagnes (made from 100% Chardonnay) are clean and elegant with great aging potential, while the addition of Pinot Noir adds backbone, body and structure and the Pinot Meunier adds floral overtones and fruitiness.
The broadest range of short breaks to Champagne
As the UK’s biggest specialist Champagne tour operator, we are able to offer a wide variety of trips to the region spanning 11 months of the year. We have 45 Champagne Weekends in 2008 alone! On every weekend tour or Champagne holiday, you can choose the type of accommodation that you wish to stay in and add extra nights as desired. For those who wish to extend their stay, our standard service includes providing you with recommendations of additional Champagne houses that you may like to visit and arranging these appointments if required.
Grape Escapes Champagne Tour - What’s Included
All our weekends are designed to give customers a full insight into the Champagne making process. We always include a visit to one of the prestigious houses based in the centre of Reims or Epernay. The sight of millions of bottles of Champagne maturing in the underground cellars is truly breath-taking. Some of the cellars are within chalk Crayères which were excavated by the Romans and others were purpose built over the last 150 years. The visit to the prestigious house will include a tour of the cellars and conclude with tastings of their Champagnes.
Whilst the large houses show the majesty and grandeur that can be found in Champagne making, there is nothing better than meeting the maker and seeing the passion which he or she puts into their art. We therefore focus our tours on visiting the smaller houses where you can do just this. Your Champange Break will include a visit to a house that concentrates on the vineyards, where you will see the vines in their varying states during the year and learn about the soil and climatic influences on Champagne making. There will be another small house where you will concentrates on the work in the winery – looking at the presses, fermentation and disgorgement process. One of these smaller houses will be a Grand Cru house where the Champagne is produced using grapes from the very best vineyard plots in the region.
As seasoned Grape Escapes clients will know, in addition to the Champagne, we also consider fine dining to be a prerequisite. Therefore each tour also includes a lunch, either at a local restaurant, Champagne house or in the case of the deluxe tour, a Michelin starred restaurant. If eating as the guest of a Champagne House, the meal will be accompanied by a range of their Champagnes (and still wines where these are sold separately). For the restaurant meals, Champagnes and premium wines are selected to accompany the meal and to demonstrate the breadth of wine making styles that France offers.
For those who want to learn about Champagne but like something more active, we are again running our adventure tours where you will abseil 100ft into the Champagne cellars at a medium house. You will then visit a smaller house where you will start your visit by learning Sabrage (the art of opening the Champagne bottle with a sword) before enjoying lunch accompanied by all of the Champagnes that the group has opened. The visit will conclude with a tour of the full Champagne making process at the house.
As well as learning about the champagne making process, all our tours include a local English speaking tour guide who will give you information on the region, its specialities and history.
For full details of what is included in each package, please see the descriptions below
Arrangements to suit you
The flexibility offered by Grape Escapes isn’t limited to the tour dates, but also includes the type of accommodation and travel method you prefer. Our standard tours are based on self drive to the Champagne region so you are able to select a channel crossing time to suit yourself, however alternative transport options are detailed elsewhere on this leaflet. We can also create a broader wine tour into Chablis and onwards to the heart of Burgundy if you would like a longer break.
The Grape Escapes way
For each Grape Escapes tour, we carefully select a number of Champagne Houses of different sizes who create wines in a variety of styles. We exercise the same care in choosing the restaurants that we visit. The Champagne Houses and restaurants we visit are dotted around Reims and Epernay.
To ensure the quality of your Grape Escape, we strictly limit the number of guests on each tour. Unlike other operators who usually take in excess of 30 people in a coach (and some upwards of 50), we limit all Grape Escape tours to 24 people. This has a number of benefits including access to the broadest range of Champagne Houses and restaurants, better service and less wasted time and a more social and intimate atmosphere on the tour. Our aim is always for you to enjoy your holiday in Champagne.
The tours – what’s included?
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Meet the Maker Weekend - new for 2009
The focus of this tour is to sample the widest variety of Champagnes, created by smaller family run houses. It will include the opportunity to dine at one of these small houses as the guests of the estate and taste their Champagnes during lunch. Guests will meet some of the personalities who create the great wines and make our tours so special
- A return Dover to Calais ferry crossing with P&O Ferries for a car + two passengers (other options available)
- 2 night’s bed and breakfast at your chosen hotel
- Full day private coach tour in a luxury coach to include
- Visits to 3 small, family run, Champagne Houses to include tastings
- A traditional 3 course lunch as the guest of one of these houses
- Visit to a larger, prestigious Champagne House to include a cellar tour and tastings
- An English speaking guide for the tour who will provide information on the region and the wines.
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Prestige Weekend
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Adventure Weekend
For guests who are looking for something unusual and very memorable in Champagne, we are pleased to offer our unique Adventure tour. With the opportunity to abseil 100 feet into a set of Champagne cellars, followed by the opportunity to learn the Napoleonic art of sabrage, this tour is fondly remembered by past clients
- A return Dover to Calais ferry crossing with P&O Ferries for a car + two passengers (other options available)
- 2 nights bed and breakfast at your chosen hotel
- Full day private coach tour on the Saturday to include
- Visit to a medium sized Champagne House including abseiling and tastings
- Champagne House lunch including learning sabrage, to include tastings
- Visit to a prestigious Champagne House to include tastings
- An English speaking guide for the tour who will provide information on the region and the wines
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Harvest Weekend
This weekend offers the ultimate opportunity to truly understand the whole Champagne process from first principles. We are delighted to work with a family run, grand cru, Champagne House to offer our guests the opportunity to get their hands dirty in the vineyard during the ‘vendange’
- A return Dover to Calais ferry crossing with P&O Ferries for a car + two passengers (other options available)
- 2 night’s bed and breakfast at your chosen hotel
- Full day private coach tour in a luxury coach on the Saturday to include
- Visit to a small Champagne House where you will take the secateurs to the vineyard and harvest some grapes. You will then return to the winery and taste the freshly pressed grape juice and follow the grapes through their journey to becoming Champagne. Your visit will include a traditional 3 course harvesters lunch with Champagnes
- Visit to a prestigious Champagne House to include tastings
- Gala 4 course dinner at a local restaurant in the evening
- An English speaking guide for the tour who will provide information on the region and the wines
The dates of the harvest are a function of the weather each year. It is therefore not possible to provide the exact date of this tour at the time of going to press. The tour is likely to be in September and we expect to set a provisional date in June with a confirmed date in early August. If you would like to make a provisional booking on this tour then please contact us for more details.
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Deluxe Weekend
For those that enjoy the finer things in life, we are pleased to offer our deluxe weekend. This tour offers you the opportunity to taste the best Champagnes of each house. Guests will enjoy not only La Grande Dame at Veuve Clicquot, but also a private tour at Moet and Chandon to sample their iconic Dom Perignon Champagne
- A return Dover to Calais ferry crossing with P&O Ferries for a car + two passengers (other options available)
- 2 night’s bed and breakfast at your chosen hotel
- Full day private coach tour in a luxury coach on the Saturday to include
- Visit to Veuve Clicquot where you will have a tour and taste La Grande Dame
- Gourmet 4 course lunch at a top local restaurant including accompanying Champagne and wines
- A visit to Moet and Chandon where you will have an exclusive Dom Perignon tour, not available to the general public and sample this great wine
- A visit to a small Grand cru Champagne House to include tastings
- An English speaking guide for the tour who will provide information on the region and the wines
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Credit Crunch Tour
This tour is the perfect antidote to the credit crunch. It combines visits to both a large, prestigious Champagne House and a small, family Champagne House with the opportunity to enjoy a great 3 course lunch accompanied by 3 Champagnes
- A return Dover to Calais ferry crossing with Sea France Ferries for a car + two passengers (other options available)
- 2 night’s bed and breakfast at your chosen hotel
- Visit on foot to a prestigious Champagne House in reims to include tastings of vintage and non-vintage Champagnes
- 3 course lunch in a local restaurant accompanied by 3 single varietal Champagnes (one made from 100% Chardonnay grapes, one from 100% Pinot Noir, and one from 100% Pinot Meunier)
- Half day tour in a mini-bus to include
- Visit to a smaller Champagne House with tastings
- Visit a vineyard to see the vines and to see how the grapes are grown
- An English speaking guide for the half day mini-bus tour who will provide information on the region and the wines. Please note that the tour may be conducted in a second language in addition to English.
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