FRANCE 2020

[JimHow]

I would say we need to have at least 15 people in attendance for France '20, and preferably not much more than 20.
Because of the number of couples involved, I would think that the 14 rooms available at Bellefont-Belcier would be sufficient.
Didn't somebody from BWe stay there in the past year or two? Was it Danny?
Speaking of which, Danny, how do the weeks of March 16 or 23 work for your (busy) schedule?
I have only five homicide cases and 50 other felony trials, I'll do my best to fit a France trip into my schedule.
Based on Alfred's recent email, and the fact that Howard Kwok is contemplating flying from China to France early to meet with us, we should probably try to nail down some commitments.

So....
As long as I feel confident that we have at least 15 attendees, I'll see if I can nail down a date for a lunch at Pontet-Canet with Alfred Tesseron in the same week that I can reserve up to 14 rooms at "a great rate" at Tour St. Christophe.

Assuming those two things happen, then we can structure the rest of the week around that.
I'm looking at the list of potential attendees from the first thread.
From that list, I'm going to list here the ones who I am MOST assuming will be able to attend.
If you feel there is like basically a 100% chnce you will attend, feel free to let me know here, as soon as possible!

2020 BWE France Attendees:

Jim How
Stefan + Lucie
Patrick + Brendan... Patrick, I'm counting on you, get your brother there.
Nicolas
Ian
Harry (plus Greg? Hopefully Greg can attend, but for now I'm just going to count Harry as one to be conservative.)
Michael-P + Nalan
Timmy
Alex (perhaps not staying at Bellefont-Belcier, though?)
Marcus

So, that's like only 12, I'm not sure how committed are Claudius, my friends Tony/Jennifer, Danny/Danielle, Tom/Gail, CJD, etc., which could quickly bring us over 20.
I would say we need to have financial commitments from 15 people to make this happen.
I think we can get there, but we are now getting to the point where we need to get some commitments.

And where is HM$???

[stefan]

I have put a hold on making plans for March pending confirmation that BWE-France2020 is on. If it happens, Lucie and I are in.

[JimHow]

Ok I’m going to start a new list of “definites.”
Let’s see if we can get to 15:

1. Jim
2. Stefan
3. Lucie
4. Patrick
5. Ian
6. Nicola
7. Michael-P
8. Nalan
9. Harry

Who else would consider themselves “definite” for the weeks of either March 16th or 23rd?

[JimHow]

Updated "definites" list, Tony and Jennifer are in.

1. Jim
2. Stefan
3. Lucie
4. Patrick
5. Ian
6. Nicola
7. Michael-P
8. Nalan
9. Harry
10. Tony
11. Jennifer

[marcs]

Can you remind me of the cost and what that cost would include? Trying to figure out the all-in price tag, thanks.

[JimHow]

Will get back to you soon Marcus.

[Michael-P]

1 - BD: I've sent you a PM with my email.
2 - Count on Nalan and I for BWE France 2020.
3 - I generally agree, the ideal is 15-20 people, it would be great for everyone to stay at the same place and Bellefont-Belcier looks cool, if probably a bit rustic.
4 - BD: what has Alfred and Howard said about which week?
5 - Let me know what else I can do to help make it happen.

Michael-P

[Tom In DC]

Gail and I are definitely going!

[Claudius2]

Jim
Please put me down as a definite and probably Wendy but I’ll need a fixed date before she will confirm.

[JimHow]

Excellent, I'm waiting to hear back from Alfred Tesseron, which will dictate whether we go the week of March 16th or March 23rd.

Updated "definite" list as of 9/24:

1. Jim
2. Stefan
3. Lucie
4. Patrick
5. Ian
6. Nicola
7. Michael-P
8. Nalan
9. Harry
10. Tony
11. Jennifer
12.Tom
13. Gail
14. Mark
15. Wendy
16. Brendan

[JimHow]

I think we should do a little YouTube documentary of our BWE twentieth anniversary visit to Bordeaux.
Twenty years!
Twenty fucking years. That's some incredible shit, yo.
I'm still amazed that we are here... 20 years later.
Crazy, man.

[JimHow]

You know, I'm going to pat myself on the back:

Good job, BD....
Not too many websites out there that have been around 20 years.
People come and go, but the BWE site is still here.
Chugging along.

[Claudius2]

Folks
My time these days is quite flexible and I can help out with organisation of the event.
I don't have any useful personal contacts at Chateaux however, but happy to organise other activities or logistics.

[JimHow]

I heard back from Pontet-Canet, I told her I would get back to her soon.

Dear Sir,
Thank you for your email.
We will be able to propose Thursday on either week (16th or 23rd March 2020).
We have well noted 15 to 18 people.
We look forward to reading from you.
Best regards.

Nathalie Goze

Sounds like Thursday during either the week of the 16th or 23rd.
Wouldn't it be great if we could do lunch at Pontet-Canet, a quick visit to neighboring Mouton, and do another dinner at Pichon Baron.
a nice casual three chateaux day in Pauillac. That would be our Pauillac day.

I vote for the week of March 23rd if we can do a Thursday evening event at Pichon Baron.

[JimHow]

Just talked to Danny and Danielle, they are in!

I am making an executive decision:
We will do it during the week of March 23rd.
I think we will try to do 5 days, Monday through Friday, with a little bit of a slower pace.
More details to come very soon.

Updated "definite" list:

1. Jim
2. Stefan
3. Lucie
4. Patrick
5. Ian
6. Nicola
7. Michael-P
8. Nalan
9. Harry
10. Tony
11. Jennifer
12.Tom
13. Gail
14. Mark
15. Wendy
16. Brendan
17. Danny
18. Danielle