"Laurent-Perrier UK offered Green’s staff an exclusive trip to Champagne on the 9th and 10th of June 2010. Laurent, GM of Duke Street branch, took his 2 barman, Alberto and Daniel with him and Irek, bar manager at Cornhill, took Martin and Paul.We were escorted by Alan from L-P UK and also joined by our wine supplier Steven Evan from Bibendum.
We arrived in Reims just after lunchtime on the 9th, and drove to Epernay to visit De Castellane wine cellars. Epernay is a beautiful little town where sadly that day the weather was miserable, but at least we could drown our sorrows in Champagne....!
De Castellane belongs to Laurent-Perrier and we visited their cellars, the museum of bottling Champagne (where we saw how they used to print labels, make corks, etc....).
We went up the Tower of the building to oversee the view of Epernay and the river La Marne.
We were then offered a degustation of De Castellane Brut, De Castellane rose and De Castellane Vintage.
We stayed in a Hotel in the center of Reims and were treated to dinner by L-P hosted by Nicole from Laurent-Perrier France.
On the morning of the 10th we drove to Tours-Sur-Marne and to the Laurent-Perrier domaine. We were pleasantly surprised to be welcomed by Polish, Italian and British flags on our arrival, what a nice gesture from them. We spent the morning visiting their cellars, learning about the history of the brand, the region's grapes and the regulations to make Champagne, and of course finished by a nice tasting of L-P brut, L-P rose, L-P vintage 2000 and L-P Ultra Brut.
The domaine is welcoming, Frederique is a charming and knowledgeable lady who has worked for L-P for years. She hosted lunch at Bistro 7 in Epernay before we headed back to Reims to catch our train.
All the staff were extremely pleased and impressed by the quality of L-P Champagne and the dedication around it.
A big thank you to Nicole, Frederique and Alan for those 2 days."
Laurent Lucas-Dufour
