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I know it's been awhile since we've had a meetup, but with summer in full swing, I thought it would be lovely to have a relaxing afternoon in the park, comparing wines.

Please bring a bottle of your favourite wine (country and varietal of any kind) to share and we will do tastings and contrast and compare the different wines. Please bring your own drinking glass. I'll bring a couple of blankets and corkscrews.

**Please list the wine (vineyard and varietal) in your RSVP, so that we don't all bring the same one :)

I will find a spot in the grassy area just beyond Speaker's Corner, in the Northeast corner of the park. The nearest tube is Marble Arch. I'll also send out my mobile number closer to the event, in case you can't find us.

Also, as this is rainy England, please check the group page the morning of the event - if it's raining, I will post a rescheduled day.

I'm really looking forward to the event, hope to see you there!

**Updated Info (as of 10 March 08) - we have chosen a hotel, we will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express at the following address:

BOULEVARD PAUL-DOUMER 21
REIMS, 51100

Please note!! There is another Holiday Inn in Reims, so please double check the address when you book.

The cheapest rate I found was on Holiday Inn's website (www.holidayinn.co.uk) and is 79 Euros/night (approx. £60). This includes breakfast and the rate is the same for a single or a double. Please feel free to post on the message board if you're interested in sharing a room (one woman already has a request posted to share with another woman).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any block rates because we aren't a large enough group.

In order to secure your place, please forward me your Eurostar booking so that I know you're definitely coming and can plan accordingly with the car. In order to alleviate last minute chaos, I will close the RSVP list on 31 March. If you decide you'd like to join us after that, we'd love to have you, but you'll have to organise your own plans.

I'm really excited, I think this will be a really fun weekend - I'm looking forward to it!

Our weekend itinerary:

1) Depart on Eurostar London-Paris on the 18:32 train on 10 April. Please note that Eurostar requires that you are checked in and physically within the boarding area by 30 minutes prior to departure. Current cost: £114 for standard class. I and two other members have already booked our tickets.

2) Pick-up rental van at the Eurostar station in Paris and drive to Reims. The trains from Paris to Reims don't run very late and we would have had to take the 16:30 Eurostar train in order to connect to a train to Reims. So we've decided to drive from Paris.

A few people emailed me to say that they would need to arrive in Reims on Friday - that's still an option, please let me know if you are interested in doing this so we can coordinate meeting up with you. But please note that you'll need to at least get yourself to Reims before we can pick you up! :)

I have reserved a van with room for up to 9 people with Avis, at a cost of £218 (not including fuel costs or the "extra driver" costs they always have).

3) Since it will be quite late by the time we arrive at the hotel Thursday night and get settled, the plan is simply to fall asleep and rest up! :)

4) Daily itinerary for Friday and Saturday:

Meet up for the day over breakfast, planning to leave for the day around 9am

Visit 2 vineyards in the AM, someone will need to drive (and therefore taste carefully!)

Everything in France closes mid-day for a 2 hour lunch, so we will have lunch during that time. I'm as much a foodie as I am a wine fanatic, so I'll do some research on yummy places :)

2 more vineyards after lunch (where a different person will need to drive)

The rest of the day: dinner and relaxing.

Sunday itinerary:

We should probably leave Reims by 5:30-6, so the only difference in Sunday's itinerary is that we probably won't have dinner.

5) After driving back to Paris, we will depart on the 21:13 Eurostar back to London on 13 April.

So, here are the updated costs:

Total cost per person (not including lunches, dinners, vineyard fees or petrol costs): £350 per person

Transport:
Eurostar to Paris: £114 r/t for standard class.

Shared rental car(s) to get around within Champagne: Approx. £218 per car (not including petrol), so the cost per person will depend on how many of us there are.

Hotel:
Holiday Inn Express: £60/night

Incidentals (meals, vineyard fees, etc):
Meals: Approx. £35 per day, per person, for 2 meals
Vineyard fees: not sure? We will only be charged fees at the larger vineyards. However, it is customary and polite to purchase a bottle at the ones who don't charge us for the tastings, so maybe £5 per vineyard?

I discovered this website whilst looking for things for the group to do and got an email today about the following event. I think it looks quite interesting and fun. I will definitely be attending, so if you plan to attend the event, please pay Wine Connoisseur directly (payment info at the end of the details below).

However, please also RSVP yes here, so that I know how many people we are trying to meet with at the event!

I'll send info closer to the event about a specific meeting location, etc, so that we can go as a group. I hope to see some of you there!

Amy

SOUTH AFRICAN WINE TASTING
South Africa is the 9th largest wine producing country in the World and one of the most exciting.
The UK is its major export market and there are more wines from South Africa than Chile sold on and off trade.
Stylistically South African wines are like a bridge between Europe and New World.
Come and taste a superb selection of 8 different wines, made from grape varieties such as the unique Pinotage, Chenin blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon among others and learn about the diversity of South African wine regions and their producers.
As usual the tasting will be followed by cheese and baguette.
This is a relaxing and interactive wine tasting, not requiring any previous tasting experience,so gather some friends and come to have some fun.

Date: Thursday 28th February 2008 7pm-9pm
Venue: The Marlborough Hotel, 9-13 Bloomsbury St London WC1
Cost: £35.00 per person
To book:

e-mail Margaret:
margaret@connoisseur.org and send a cheque payable to Wine Connoisseur Ltd
WINE CONNOISSEUR LTD
10 Wedderburn Road
London
NW3 5QG

margaret@connoisseur.org

www.connoisseur.org

I've had enough responses so far to be able to cast a majority vote for option #1 :)

Slight change in plans, as it hadn't occurred to me that the restaurant closes at 10pm. So, here is the new plan:

Dinner at 8pm at the Globe Restaurant at 100 Shoreditch High Street (menu listed in the files section of the group). The Globe Restaurant is on the top floor of the Crowne Plaza Shoreditch, and it used to be called the Saint Gregory Hotel. I also have the wine list, but I can't upload it from my office, so will do so tonight. Perhaps we'll be able to order several different bottles to taste.

Migrate down to the Saint's Bar (also part of the hotel) at 10ish, when the restaurant closes, for more wine and whatever else your palate desires :)

Head back upstairs to the roof terrace of the hotel shortly before midnight to view the fireworks over the London Eye at midnight, apparently the show lasts for about 15 minutes.

Back to the bar or perhaps a neighbouring one if anyone still has any energy to do so ;)

In case anyone doesn't already know, this is from the tube website:

"There will be free travel on journeys from 23:45 on New Year's Eve until 04:30 on New Year's Day, on the Tube, buses, DLR and Tramlink." Old Street is the closest station.

Looking forward to a lovely introduction to 2008!
Amy

**All Please note the location change! It seems that Hampton's Wine Bar has just closed for business :(

The first meetup was a great success and we had a wonderful time discussing (and trying to understand!) the wines we were drinking.

Please join us for the second meetup, at a wine bar to be determined...I'm compiling a list of places that are somewhat central and decently priced, with a good variety of by the glass choices and I'll let everyone know the specific venue shortly.