Page 67 - Cork & Tee Sample Program Flipbook, 2018

family owned and operated house in Champagne. It is currently managed by the seventh
generation, brothers Francois and Antoine Roland-Billecart, and the cellars are in the hands of
renowned "chef de cave" Francois Domi.

With respect to harvest, one of the most distinctive aspects of Billecart-Salmon is their
philosophy that an early harvest yields more elegant and delicate champagnes. Another defining
characteristic of Billecart-Salmon is their practice of double cold settling, which they began in
1952. This process involves a primary cold settling of the pressed juice for a period of 12 hours
whereby the heaviest of the must solids fall to the bottom. The juice is then racked into clean
tanks where it is chilled down to just above freezing for another 48 hours. This second and much
colder settling eliminates any wild yeasts and additional heavy elements without the use of
enzymes, filtering or a centrifuge. After the second racking, fermentation is initiated by adding
dried yeasts and maintained at a long slow pace for up to 5 weeks in order to preserve as many
delicate fruit aromas as possible.

Following lunch on your own, you could visit a second, smaller producer, which might be
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Champagne Roger Coulon. The 8 generation of the Coulon family is at the helm of the
Champagne business. They produce about 7500 cases of bubbly per year and source fruit from
the 1er Cru rated villages of Vrigny, Coulommes and Pargny, about 6 miles from Reims.

End the day back at Les Crayeres. You would be remiss in not taking advantage of Le Parc, the
hotel’s two-star Michelin restaurant.

Proposed Accommodations: Chateau Les Crayères

Day 3: On to Burgundy. We’ll arrange for a rental car to be delivered to your accommodations
this morning (while we typically can arrange such a delivery from the rental car location situated
15 min from Les Crayeres, delivery can never be guaranteed until after car rental booking, and a
small delivery fee is applicable). Self-drive approximately 3 hrs to Vault-de-Lugny. En route,
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after 2 hrs 30 min, we suggest you visit the Fontenay Abbey, which was founded in the early 12
century by a French saint and is the oldest preserved Cistercian abbey in the world. A UNESCO
World Heritage Site, the Abbey is nestled in a fully preserved valley and recognized for its quiet
setting and unchanged architecture over the last 900 years. This is a perfect area for walks along
several planned paths.

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