from £1,999* per person	5 Days	June
Comfort accommodations		Exertion level: 3
Operator: Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours		24 people max

For at least the past 16 years, every November, A&C clients have been travelling to France to participate in the Trois Glorieuses festivities set around the famous Hospices Vente des Vins auction in Beaune. It is not however the ideal time to taste these wines as they are very young at that time. This tour, being in the following June is a much better time to taste the wines and also to enjoy this beautiful region. The tour will be led by Charles Metcalfe, one of the co-Chairmen of the International Wine Challenge, though also known as a wine broadcaster and for his singing abilities, having been an Opera singer early in his career (like his friend, Oz Clarke).

Our tasting of the Hospices wines will show that the Domaine must now be considered among the top flight of Burgundy domaines. Anthony Hanson MW of Christie’s and renowned Burgundy expert, has arranged for us to spend a morning with Monsieur Roland Masse, (regisseur of the Domaine de Hospices de Beaune), exploring the Hospices vineyards and having an in depth tasting. Roland is responsible for all the Hospices vineyards and for the winemaking; to be able to spend a whole morning with him and Anthony Hanson MW, is an extraordinarily wonderful thing for any wine lover to do.

Other visits will include Faiveley and we hope to lunch or have dinner at Maison Joseph Drouhin, dine with Bouchard Père et fils; and have special visits and wine tastings to Charles’ selection of small stellar domaines that are not open to the general public.

This tour also offers the chance, to join our syndicate that has just bought a barrel of 2011 ‘Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée Guigone de Salins’ at the Hospices auction.The five day tour will be hosted by renowned wine expert, Charles Metcalfe, one of the co-Chairmen of the International Wine Challenge. We’ll visit Charles’s selection of great négociants and smaller domaines. These will include prestigious lunches and dinners tasting and drinking some of the finest Burgundies available.

One evening, there is the option to attend ‘Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot’. This concert (with soloists from the Metropolitan Opera, New York) is followed by a dinner and an auction hosted by Anthony Hanson. Under the hammer will be great wines by the bottle, donated by some of Burgundy’s top domaines to raise money for ‘The Young Soloists’.

2011 was the 151st wine auction at the Hospices in Beaune – making it the world’s oldest most continuous auction. The auction consists uniquely of wine from the Hospices vineyards sold in barrels containing the equivalent of 24 cases of wine (288 × 75cl bottles). The auction is run by Christie’s, the London auction house, and its team of world-renowned wine specialists including Burgundy wine expert, Anthony Hanson MW. Funds raised go to the hospital, the historic Hôtel-Dieu and its museum of treasures.

It was Anthony’s suggestion that we invite our clients to participate in a wine buying syndicate, with Anthony to advise us on the choice of wines, host the tasting in London and indeed to bid at the auction on our behalf. This was just too good an opportunity to miss and the thrill of watching the auction was really exciting. Anthony Hanson MW is, of course, widely considered world-wide to be one of the foremost authorities on Burgundy – indeed our own Tim Clarke has been enjoying reading and learning from his superb writings on the subject for the past 25 years or so. Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours and their clients will be the proud owners of one of these historic barrels.