Learn More About the Loire Valley with Randy!

"For all their diversity, however, the wines of the Loire share stylistic threads. At the northern limits of viticulture, Loire wines tend to be lighter, nervier than wines from the Rhône or Bordeaux. Relatively low in alcohol, they have in common a gaiety, freshness, and fragrance born of exuberant fruit and bright acidity. They are wines that fit today's streamlined cooking and lifestyle without sacrificing personality. Artisanal, handcrafted wines, they are vivid without being heavy."

—Jacqueline Friedrich, A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire

 

At 630 miles, the Loire River is France's longest waterway. Beginning just 80 miles from the Mediterranean in the Auvergne, the river traverses north, then in a general westerly direction through farms and orchards past romantic castles with moats, through the cities of Orleans, Tours, Angers, and Nantes and emptying into the Atlantic just beyond.

It is often called "the garden of France", admired by gastronomes and famous authors for centuries. Kings and nobles, needing to escape the squalor and heat of summers in Paris built magnificent chateaux where they could hunt game, plant spectacular gardens and enjoy a rural lifestyle if only for a few months.

All along the river there are vines. First, there are the local specialties of the Auvergne, later you encounter world-class Sauvignon Blanc and minerally Pinot Noir vines planted on magnificent hillsides made of limestone-infused soils making nearby villages famous: Pouilly-sur-Loire (Pouilly Fumé), Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, Reuilly, and Quincy.

West from Orleans as you enter the Touraine, the vines yield more variety with Malbec (called Côt there), Gamay, Sauvignon (Blanc), a smattering of Chardonnay, Grolleau, Pineau d'Aunis, and a few other obscure local curiosities. But the luscious Chenin Blancs of Montlouis, Vouvray, Saumur, Savennieres, and Anjou that rule here alongside the Cabernet Francs of Chinon, Bourgueil, Saumur-Champigny, and Anjou creating a one-two combination of such rich diversity of textures and flavors that must be tasted to be fully appreciative of how great they really are.

Closer to the sea is the cool region of Muscadet where the feisty Melon de Bourgogne ("as bracing as sea air," writes Jacqueline Friedrich) provides the electric wines much of France uses to wash down their platters of fruits de mer, particularly raw oysters, a national obsession.

There are also handsome sparkling wines produced in the Loire, especially in Vouvray, Montlouis, and Saumur, and the rosés made there have provided enjoyment for over a century, and never better than now. If you want an instant master-class in terroir, pour yourself glasses of Sancerre rouge, rosé, and blanc side-by-side and marvel at the similarities that can only come from that place.

If you love wine and especially food wine, it will be hard to find wines anywhere in the world that will energize you more than the wines of the Loire Valley.

Join Randy in exploring these amazing wines at his Loire Valley Wine Tasting, this Friday 4/10↓