Loire Flashcards
Didier Dagueneau
1956- 2008
French winemaker who produced exemplary Sauvignon Blanc in the Loire Valley
What is the principal grape variety of Samur- Champigny AOP?
Cabernet Franc
Where is Les Montes Damnes?
Sancerre AOP
Pellicular Maceration
Fermenting with skin contact occasionally done with white grapes (Loire Valley, NZ)
What sub region of the Loire Valley is Cote D’ Auvergne located?
Upper Loire
Where is a Cour- Cheverny and what is the grape varietal?
In Touraine, Romorantin is the grape varietal
What style of wines are produced in Reuilly, from what grapes?
Loire Valley, crisp whites and dry reds. Sauv Blanc, Pinot Noir
The sparkling tradition of Limoux pre- dates that of champagne by how many years?
150
Blanquette De Limoux
Made primarily from Mauzac with Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay as blending partners
Crement De Limoux
Blend of 90% Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay as blending partner
What is the largest Loire Valley AOC?
Muscadet
Which is the single largest producer of Loire sparkling wines?
Saumur
Arrange Rose AOCs of the Loire from Dryest to Sweetest
Rose De Loire AOC
Rose D’ Anjou AOC
Cabernet D’ Anjou
Anjou- Brissac
Not a sweet wine AOC
What Loire AOC does not make red wine?
Coteaux De L’ Aubance
Blanquette Methode Ancestrale AOC
Made with 100% Mauzac and naturally sweet
What part of the Loire Valley is dominated by soils of Gneiss?
Pay Nantays
What are the zones of production of the Loire from West to East?
Pas Nantais, Muscadet, Anjou, Layon, Samur, Touraine, Sancerre
T or F: All of the AOCs in the Loire are permitted to make Cremant?
False
Pouilly- Sur- Loire AOC
Made primarily which Chasselas
Quincy AOC
Produces only white wines
Sancerre AOC
Produces white, red and rose whites
Savennieres AOC
Produces wine exclusively with Chenin Blanc
The Vouvray region lies along which river?
Loire
Where is Les Monts Damnes?
Sancerre AOP
What are the 3 main topsoils in Sancerre?
Silex (Flint), Caillotes (Small Stones), and Terres Blanches (Fossilized Marl)
What is the grape varietal in Muscadet?
Melon Blanc
What are the key varietals of both Anjou AC and Saumur AC?
Cab Franc
Chenin Blanc
What is the most prestigious red wine of the Loire Valley (ie What AC?)
Chinon AC- Cab Franc
What varietal is always is Vouvray?
Chenin Blanc
Describe the climate of Touraine
Halfway between Muscadet and Sancerre so it’s across between Maritime and Continental
Describe the weather of the Central V/ yards region of the Loire?
Continental climate, severe winters and hot summers
Summer hail and Spring frosts are continuing hazards
Where is Sauvinneires?
Loire
What 2 regions in the Loire make sweet, sparkling and roses?
Anjou- Saumur and Touraine
Vouvray is made from 100% of which varietal?
Chenin Blanc
Sancerre and Pouilly- Fume are best known for which varietal wine?
Sauvignon Blanc
What are the most 5 most important regions in the Loire?
Muscadet, Anjou- Saumur, Touraine, Sancerre, Pouilly- Fume
What styles of wine does Savennieres make and what are the two ACs within that produces this style?
Dry white wine from Chenin Blanc
- Coulee- Du- Serrant
- La Roche- Aux- Moines
Name the two AOCs in Coteaux Du Layon known for making high quality sweet dessert wine
Quarts De Chaume and Bonnezeaux
What is the outstanding wine made in Coteaux Du Layon?
Sweet wine dessert wine made from Chenin Blanc
What is the style of the best wines from Saumur?
Crement De Loire AC- dry sparkling wines made from Chenin Blanc plus a maximum of 20% Chardonnay
Name the sub regions of Anjou?
- Anjou
- Saumur
- Savennieres
- Coteaux- Du- Layon
Name the sub districts of Touraine
- Vouvray
- Montlouis
- Jasnieres
- Bourgeil
- Chinon
- Coteaux Du Loir
- Cheverny
Pouilly- Sur- Loire produces two AC white wines, what are they and what is the difference?
- Pouilly Fume- made from SB
2. Pouilly- Sur- Loire- made from Chasselas
Name the sub regions of the Central vineyards?
- Sancerre
- Pouilly- Sur- Loire
- Menetou- Salon
- Quincy
- Reuilly
What style of wines are produced in Reuilly?
Whites- Sauvignon Blanc
Red and Rose- Pinot Noir
Describe the characteristics of Bourgueil
A red wine made of Cab Franc with up to 10% Cab. Sauv fragrant medium to light body light tannin
Reuilly
Loire, Central Vineyards
Whites from Sauv Blanc
Reds and Rose from Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris
Vouvray
Loire, Touraine
Whites from Chenin Blanc and small amounts of Arbois. Can be dry off- dry, sweet, still slightly sparkling (Petillant), Sparkling (Mousseux) famous for Tuffa (Limestone) soils
Cour- Cheverny
Loire, Touraine
Whites from 100% Romorantin
Cheverny
Loire, Touraine
Whites from Sav Blanc with up 15% Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Arbois
Reds from Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Cot
Muscadet
Loire, Nantais
Dry whites from Muscadet
Some Sur Lie Aging
Chinon
Loire, Touraine
Reds from Cabernet Franc with up to 25% Cab Sav
Whites from Chenin Blanc (Chinon Blanc)
Rose from Cab Franc and Cab Sav
St. Nicolas- De- Bourgueil
Loire, Touraine
Reds and Rose from Cabernet Franc with up to 25% Cab Sav (can be drunk slightly chilled)
Bourgueil
Loire, Touraine
Reds and Rose from Cabernet Franc and up to 25% Cab Sav (can be drunk lightly chilled)
Another name for Malbec…..
Cot, in Anjou in the Loire
What type of soil of Tuffeau
Limestone, most famous in Anjou in the Loire
Saumur
Loire, Anjou
Known for Tuffeux (Limestone) soils. Still or sparkling dry white from Chenin Blanc and up to 20% Chardonnay or Sav Blanc.
Reds from Cabernet Franc and Cab Sav.
Rose from Grolleau, Cabernet Franc, Cab Sav, Cot, Pineau D’ Aunis
Silex
Famous soil in Sancerre
Flint over Limestone
Callottes
Famous soil in Sancerre.
Small stones over limestone.
Terre Blanche
Famous soil in Sancerre
1 to 1.5 metre of sticky clay over Limestone
Sancerre
Loire, Central Vineyards
Famous for whites from Sav Blanc.
Reds and Rose from Pinot Noir.
Muscadet Cotes De Grandlieu
Loire, Nantais
Dry whites from Muscadet
Some Sur lie aging
Where is Cheverney?
Loire Valley- Southeast of Blois
Pinot Noir, Gamay
Whites- Chenin Blanc, S/ Blanc, Chardonnay
What style of wines are produced in Reuilly. From what grapes?
Loire Valley
Crisp whites and dry reds. Sav Blanc, Pinot Noir
What are the main grapes of Loire?
Chenin Blanc, Cab Franc, Muscadet, Sav Blanc, Folle Blanche, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Cab Sav, Chardonnay
What are the soil types of the Loire Valley?
Granite, Schist, Volcanic subsoil and Sand and Silt
What is the second largest sparkling wine appellation in France?
The Loire Valley (mainly around Anjou Samur), but Crement D’ Alsace is the largest appellation
Bonneaux
AOC in Eastern part of the Coteaux Du Layon (Loire). Famous for sweet wine.
Vins Doux Naturels?
Lightly fortified wine from Languedoc- Roussilon.
Grenache or Muscat grapes.
In what part of the Loire is Quarts De Chaume?
Coteaux Du Layon
Sancerre is produced in the?
Central Vineyards
What 3 appellation can mark Muscdet Sur Lie on their bottle?
Coteaux Du Loire, Sevre- Et- Maine, Cote De Grandlieu
What 3 areas of the Loire produce world class sweet Chenin?
Coteaux Du Layon, Quarts- De- Chaume and Bonnezeaux
What varietal does Quincy AOC make?
Sav Blanc
What are soils of the Central vineyards like?
Clay or Limestone, with Flint pebbles, Silex and Gravel
What are the best reds of the Loire?
Chinon, Bourgueil, St Nicolas De Bourgueil and Saumur Champigny
What are the grapes of Menetou- Salon AOC?
Pinot Noir and Sav Blanc
What are the grapes of Anjou- Saumur?
Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Cab Sav, Grolleau, Gamay, Chard, Sav Blanc
What grapes make up Anjou- Villages wines?
Cab Franc and Cab Sauv
Grapes of Savennieres?
Chenin Blanc
Saumur
Town in the Loire just upriver from the anjou district giving its name to an extensive wine district and several appellations. Saumur is effectively a south western extension of touraine, yet is more of a centre for the wine trade of Anjou–Saumur than is Angers. The grapes grown in these latter two neighbouring regions are very similar, except that Saumur does not have Anjou’s range of potentially great sweet white wines. Saumur’s most important wine (and France’s most important mousseux) is Saumur Mousseux, a well-priced white and rosé sparkling wine made from Chenin Blanc grapes, often with a mix of international and Loire varieties. These grapes can come from an even wider area than that permitted for still Saumur, and the quality of winemaking is high among the larger houses of the town of Saumur, such as Gratien & Meyer, Langlois Chateau, and Bouvet Ladubay, and also at the important co-operative at St-Cyr-en-Bourg, with its extensive underground cellars hewn out of the local tuffeau. This calcareous rock predominates around Saumur, and was much quarried, both locally and abroad (according to Duijker it was used for rebuilding after the Great Fire of London, and also extensively in the Dutch city of Maastricht). This left the Saumurois with ready-made wine cellars, perfect not just for mushrooms, one of their most important products, but also for the maturation of their acidic wines which, as in champagne, had a natural tendency to retain some carbon dioxide in spring. Ackerman-Laurance was the first producer of sparkling Saumur, in the early 19th century. The wines have enjoyed considerable commercial success, although an increasing proportion of the base material for Saumur Mousseux is expected to be fashioned into crémant de Loire, for which the criteria are rather more rigorous: yields of 50 rather than 60 hl/ha and 12 rather than nine months’ tirage. Saumur Blanc can be remarkably difficult to distinguish from Anjou Blanc, being made from Chenin Blanc and being both high in acidity and potentially long lived. Only such conscientious growers as Chx du Hureau, de Targé, Villeneuve, and Domaine des Roches manage to coax much fruit out of them, however, by picking in tries and employing oak for fermentation and maturation, resulting in a graceful, limestone alternative to the firmer dry white anjou made on schist. Saumur Rouge is a much more successful wine, made on soils similar to those of chinon and bourgueil. It is made from at least 70% Cabernet Franc with Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Pineau d’Aunis and can be a refreshing, relatively light, fruity wine. A little more Saumur Rouge is produced than Saumur Blanc, but the most significant still wine of the region is Saumur-Champigny, whose extraordinary expansion in the 1970s and 1980s was originally due to fashion, and mainly Paris fashion at that, but has been sustained by growers’ determination to maximize vineyard potential and reach full ripeness. The Saumur-Champigny zone, prettily named after the village of Champigny, is on a tuffeau plateau that lends itself well to viticulture, as in neighbouring Touraine. Its high limestone content made the Chenin Blanc vine traditionally grown here prone to chlorosis in the post-phylloxera era, but by the mid 2000s more than 1,330 ha/3,200 acres of vines were producing Saumur-Champigny. It was the dominant St-Cyr-en-Bourg co-operative in particular that encouraged the planting of Cabernet Franc vines and developed the still red wine appellation with such success. Much Saumur-Champigny is too light to be worth ageing, although it is usefully, and quintessentially, fruity and flirtatious. A small amount of light rosé Cabernet de Saumur is made, usually considerably drier and less ambitious than Cabernet d’Anjou, while Coteaux de Saumur is Saumur’s medium-sweet white, made in very small quantities from Chenin Blanc grapes.
Loire- History
Thrived early in wine trade due to proximity to Atlantic. The French Rev. and modern transport lead to a decline. After WW2 sales recovered, with a few wines going for export, but mainly domestic sales.
Muscadet struggled in export markets after severe frosts cut production in 1991. It is now regaining popularity with fruitier styles. Sancerre and Poilly Fume have been very successful, enabling prices to rise and producers to invest in improving quality in the vineyard and in the cellar. Recently there has been a focus on improving phenolic ripeness in red wines, leading to softer, less austere styles.
No regional generic appellation for the Loire such as AC Bordeaux. A Vin de Pays (VdP du Val de Loire) covers the 13 departements of the whole region. The VdP wines are easy drinking, with freshness, light body and simple in fruit flavours.
Average annual production of QWPSR is three million hectolitres, third highest in France, 50% of production white (decreasing), 20% red (increasing), 12% rose and 8% sparkling.
Central Vineyards- Loire Valley
Eastern end of the Loire, before it turns west towards the Atlantic. Closest vineyards to the centre of France. Continental with severe winters and hot summers. Spring frost and summer hail are recurrent problems. Chalky soils (sancerre) or flinty (Poilly Fume) well draining soil rich in marine fossils.
Sancerre AC
Fine white wines. Fifteen villages on low slopes facing south east and south west. Tiny vineyard holdings. Sauvignon Blanc. Herbaceous, elderflower and gooseberry characters. Certain vineyards and villages produce wine that develops a smoky minerality with ageing. Huge popularity and limited production has lead to price increases and wine being unavailable for parts of the year. 20% Pinot Noir for rose and reds. Best vineyards reserved for Sauvignon Blanc, so reds are light and fruity in style.
Pouilly Fume AC
Opposite side of the Loire from Sancerre, less steeply marked slopes. Similar wine styles, higher percentage cask ageing leads to less aggressive herbaceous characters. No red wines made under the Pouilly Fume appellation. Similar selling price point as Sancerre.
Menetou- Salon AC, Reuilly AC, Quincy AC
Located west and south of Sancerre. Sauvignon Blanc, Rose, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris (in Reuilly). Kimmeridgian clay soils similar to Chablis, hard calcaire and sandy soils. Popularity increasing as moderately priced alternatives to Sancerre and Pouilly Fume.
Touraine- Loire
200km from the coast, centred on the city of Tours. Cold winter/ summer continental climate but not as extreme as in the Central Vineyard area. Well draining limestone soils, rich in calcium and marine fossils are found around Vouvray. 3 different soil types associated with Chinon: sandy soils in Vienne River Valley, clay and gravel soils dominate the plateau north of Chinon and the hillside slopes are predominately limestone.
Touraine AC
Generic appellation, covers whole region, stretching east along the banks of the Loire and the Cher rivers. Reds produced from Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Malbec. Whites from Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc. May appear under a varietal label, e.g. Sauvignon de Touraine.
Vouvray AC
Always Chenin Blanc, wines with pure expression and high quality. Range of styles produced: still, petulant and sparkling (often majority). From dry to very sweet. Noble rot affected sweet wines also made. Predominately an off dry style with a few grams residual. adds weight, producing a user friendly, versatile wine.
Montlouis AC
Across the river from Vouvray, produces similar wines from similar soil and climate characteristics.
Chinon AC
Prestigious red wine. Almost entirely red production from Cabernet Franc, with some Rose made and 2% Chenin Blanc grown. Three styles of red wine are produced: light and fruity, grown in the Vienne River Valley 15km west of Chinon: fuller bodied wines with firm tannins are produced on the plateau north of Chinon; finest wines made for ageing are produced on the hillside slopes. Traditionally aged in large old casks, some producers are experimenting with new oak.
Bourgueil AC and Saint- Nicholas de Bourgueil AC
Across the river and North of Chinon, producing similar wines and shares Chinon’s site climate. Vines planted on south facing limestone slopes.
Anjou Samur
Heartland of the Loire. Planted on steep slopes. Climate influenced by Atlantic, but drier and warmer than the Nantais, with all day sun and facing the prevailing winds. Soils mixture of volcanic, metamorphic, schist, limestone and carboniferous rock.
Anjou AC
Generic appellation for red, white and rose wines, from the west border of Muscadet in the east, to 10km beyond the town of Saumur. Broad range of varieties grown. Best wines are white and made from Chenin Blanc. Groileau (Grosset) only found in Anjou; red grapes with high yields used for Rose d’ Anjou AC and base for sparkling wine. Anjou AC divided into three appellations for Rose:
Cabernet d’ Anjou- medium sweet and a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabenet Franc
Rose d’ Anjou- less sweet and made from a blend of Groilleau, Cabernet Franc and Gamay.
Rose de Loire AC (which can also be produced outside of the Anjou area), dry with at least 30% Cabernet grapes.
Saumur AC
Chenin Blanc, ranging from dry to lusciously sweet, in the best years. Also important producer of sparkling wine. Red wine also produced from Cabernet Franc, labelled as Saumur- Champigny AC. These are rich, fresh wines with great concentration. Caves for cellaring are cut into steep banks of tuffeau on the river banks.
Coteaux du Layon AC
Chenin Blanc. Stylistically share fresh fruit character and acidity of sweet German wines but with more body and alcohol, often grapes have 20% potential alcohol.
Quarts de Chaume AC and Bonnezeaux AC
Are top sites and produce some of the world’s greatest sweet wines.
Chaume AC
Extremely high quality and long lasting sweet wines from Chenin Blanc.
Savennieres AC
North bank of the Loire. Good air circulation impedes botrytis development so style is generally dry, full bodied and complex late harvest Chenin Blanc. Develop honey smoky- mineral flavours when aged decades in bottle. Recent change by innovative producers is to produce riper wines which are drinkable when young while retaining their mineral complexity.
Nantais
Both banks of the Loire, where the river ends at the Atlantic, centred on the city of Nantes. Temperate, damp and humid due to proximity to Atlantic. Mild winters and mild summers, frost damage is rare. Diverse soil range, predominately well drained schist and gneiss with some granite and sandy soils.
Muscadet AC
The basic regional appellation. One permitted grape variety, Melon de Bourgogne (Muscadet). Resulting wine is dry, rather natural with green apple, grassy aromas and crisp acidity. Chaptalisation permitted up to 12%. Traditionally fermented in oak cask, now stainless steel more common. Traditional accompaniment to seafood.
Muscadet de Sevre et Maine AC
Vineyards on rolling hills, with some very high quality sites. Vallet and Saint Flacre where the wines are suitable for ageing.
Muscadet Cote de Grandieu AC
Recently established AC. Melon de Bourgogne production only. Region located closer to the Atlantic than Muscadet AC and its climate is influenced by the proximity to Lake Grandlieu.
Muscadet Coteaux de la Loire AC
Located on the right bank of the river, longest established vineyards in Muscadet. Wines tend to be fuller bodied and less acidic.
Sur Lie
Control of vilification by Ac rules; One racking to remove gross lees permitted. Wine must stay in contact with the fine lees after fermentation for at least the winter following vintage, until bottling. Filtering is permitted immediately before bottling. Wine has more flavour and richness imparted from autolysis and more freshness due to limited handling. Bottling must take place during two set periods 1st March- 30th June or 15th October- 30th November (1 year after vintage). Wine released for sale after third Thursday in March.
Second bottling date for wines benefiting from longer lees contact. Sur lie must be bottled in winery where made, negotiants therefore must buy grapes or must, rather than finished wine.
Some new terroir wines are aged for longer on the lees and these fall outside the limits for labelling as sur lie.
Vouvray
The most important individual white wine appellation in the touraine district of the Loire. The wines of Vouvray vary enormously in quality, thereby offering a true representation of the grape variety from which Vouvray is exclusively made. Vouvray is chenin blanc and, to a certain extent, Chenin Blanc is Vouvray (although up to 5% menu pineau grapes are theoretically allowed into Vouvray too). No other wine made only from this long-lived middle Loire grape, often called Pineau de la Loire, is made in such quantity, from more than 2,000 ha/5,000 acres of vineyard. (The proportion of sparkling wine produced increased during the 1990s.) Only Coteaux du layon can begin to rival Vouvray for the total area of Chenin Blanc planted. Vouvray itself is a particularly pretty small town on the northern bank of the Loire just east of Tours, whose wines owe much to the monks and monasteries who refined local viticulture from the Middle Ages. It was not until the creation of the Vouvray appellation in 1936 that Vouvray established an identity of its own; before then most of it was shipped out for blending by the energetic dutch wine trade, and much of the wine sold as Vouvray came from anywhere in Touraine. Houses, and wine cellars, have habitually been created out of the tuffeau on this right bank of the wide river, with vines planted in the clay and gravel topsoil over the tuffeau on the plateau above, dissected by small rivers and streams so that many vineyards have an ideal sheltered southerly aspect. The locals claim that this is where the Atlantic climate meets the continental climate. Making top-quality Vouvray moelleux is as hazardous as making any top-quality sweet white wine which owes its sweetness to noble rot or extreme ripeness. The vine-grower is entirely at the mercy of the weather, and the harvest in Vouvray is one of France’s last, usually lasting until well into November, often involving a number of tries through the vineyard. An increasing number of producers have mastered the art of making top-quality dry Vouvray in less ripe vintages however. Winemaking here is distinguished by the need to bottle pure fruit and its naturally high acidity as early and as unadorned as possible. Thus, this is one of the few wine regions of the world of little commercial interest to the cooperage business. Neutral fermentation vessels such as large old oak casks or stainless steel tanks are used, malolactic conversion is generally avoided, and the ageing process is expected to occur, extremely slowly, in bottle. In the least generous vintages, only dry and possibly sparkling wines are made. The best years yield very sweet, golden nectars that are naturally moelleux, or even liquoreux, but are so high in acidity that most are almost unpleasant to drink in their middle age between about three years old and two to three decades. Some of the finest Vouvrays can still taste lively, and richly fruity, at nearly a century old. A relatively high proportion of demi-sec (medium dry) is also produced in many years, and it too has demanded a considerable amount of bottle ageing before the acidity has muted and the wine can be served as a fine accompaniment to many savoury, richly sauced dishes. Better vineyard management, however, is resulting Vouvrays of all sweetness levels that are more broachable in youth. The leading producer, Huet, changed hands in 2003 and has been accused of changing direction towards a higher proportion of dry wines. Commercial Vouvray also exists, on the other hand, as simply a medium-sweet, reasonably acid, white wine that has little capacity for development. Vouvray Mousseux can often offer more interest than other Loire sparkling wines, to those who appreciate the honeyed aromas of Chenin Blanc, at least. The wines have weight and flavour, and are suitable for drinking with as well as before meals.
Rosé de Loire
General, and relatively important, appellation created in 1974 for rosé wine made from a blend of any dark-skinned grape you are likely to find in the Loire, including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pineau d’Aunis, Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Grolleau Noir. The wine may be produced anywhere within the anjou, saumur, and touraine zones and usually lies, in quality terms, somewhere between Rosé d’Anjou and Cabernet d’Anjou, with the distinction that it is always dry.
Liquoreux
French term meaning ‘syrupy sweet’, used for very rich, often botrytized, wines that are markedly sweeter than moelleux wines.
Anjou
Important, revitalized, and varied wine region in the western Loire centred on the town of Angers, whose influence once extended all over north west France. Anjou was the birthplace of Henri II, and its wines were some of France’s most highly regarded in the Middle Ages. It was the dutch wine trade, however, that developed the sweet white wine production of the region in the 16th and 17th centuries, and it would be some centuries before the citizens of Paris rather than Rotterdam had the pick of each Angevin vintage. White grapes predominated until the 19th century, when the Anjou vignoble reached its peak and phylloxera arrived. Subsequently a wide variety of less noble grape varieties were planted, including a number of hybrids, although Chenin and Cabernet Franc with some Cabernet Sauvignon are now the lynchpins, with the total vineyard having shrunk by a half from its peak. Rosé is by far the most important of the wines with Anjou in their name, then red, with Anjou Blanc produced on a relatively small scale. The region is relatively mild, being influenced by the Atlantic and protected by the woods of the Vendée to the south west. Rainfall is particularly low here, for the land between here and the ocean is unremittingly flat, with annual totals of just 500 mm/19 in. The grolleau vine, and the sickly Rosé d’Anjou it all too often produced, are in retreat, although better vineyard management and an increase in the proportion of wine vinified by the négociants has resulted in an improvement in average quality. Much more refined, and incredibly long-lasting, is rosé Cabernet d’Anjou, made from Cabernet Sauvignon or, much more likely, Cabernet Franc. It can be quite sweet but usually has very high acidity which can preserve it for decades and makes it an interesting partner for a wide range of savoury dishes. Cabernet Franc represents about one vine in three in Anjou and is increasingly favoured by growers there, encouraged by the creation in 1987 of the serious red wine appellation Anjou-Villages. The best area for such reds immediately south of Angers in the Coteaux de l’Aubance was given its own appellation Anjou-Villages Brissac in 1998. Lighter reds are produced as Anjou Gamay, from the Gamay grape of Beaujolais, with Anjou Rouge as the catch-all appellation for lighter, often quite crisp, red wines, although some excessively tannic wines result when growers draw off too much juice—and fruit—to make rosés. Of dry white wines, Anjou Blanc is the most common, and is most successful when produced on the schist and carboniferous rock close to the river. The wine must contain at least 80% Chenin Blanc, but Chardonnay, and Sauvignon, are allowed in the blend. Tiny amounts of sweet white Anjou-Coteaux de la Loire, made exclusively from Chenin Blanc, are also made. A significant and exciting development since the late 1990s has been the emergence of a new, high-quality style of dry Chenin Blanc in the Anjou, often using prime Layon sites to produce healthy, golden Chenin that is picked by hand in successive passages through the vineyard at full maturity before being fermented and then aged in 400 l double-barriques with a partial malolactic fermentation. Within the Anjou region are certain areas which have produced white wines of such quality that they have earned their own appellations—Coteaux de l’aubance; bonnezeaux; Coteaux du layon; quarts de chaume for sweet wines and savennières for dry wines—many of them very fine indeed.
Savennières
Distinctive and much celebrated dry white wine appellation in the Anjou region of the Loire, immediately south west of the town of Angers on southeast–facing schist and sandstone slopes on the north bank of the Loire. Total production of the appellation has increased from the under 30,000 case norm at the turn of the century as these examples of dry chenin blanc display such an unusual combination of nerve, concentration, and longevity that they attracted winemakers from outside the 6-km strip itself, notably from Coteaux du layon across the river. In its Napoleonic heyday, Savennières was a sweet wine, but today, although demi sec, moelleux, and doux versions have become more common in this era of climate change, most of it is dry or, if between 4 and 7 g/l residual sugar, described unofficially as Sec Tendre. The best are unusually concentrated and can last for several decades, even if some are unappetizingly tart at less than seven years old. Within Savennières are the two subappellations Savennières-Coulée de Serrant, a single estate of just 7 ha/17 acres run by the Joly family on biodynamic lines, and the 33 ha of Savennières-La Roche-aux-Moines, in which several different producers struggle to make a living in this frost-prone corner of the Loire valley. More recently better vineyard management and selective picking techniques are achieving much higher ripeness levels which result in wines with both accessibility and complexity in youth, even if they may not last as long as more traditional Savennières. The appellation is bidding to become the Loire’s second Grand Cru after quarts de chaume.
Coteaux du Layon
Large appellation with more than 1,000 ha/2,500 acres of Chenin Blanc made generally medium-sweet white (much richer from the best independent vignerons) in the anjou district of the loire. The communes of Beaulieu (-sur-Layon), Faye (d’Anjou), chaume, Rablay (-sur-Layon), Rochefort (-sur-Loire), St-Aubin (de Luigné), and St-Lambert (du Lattay) may append their names to the appellation if yields are restricted to 30 hl/ha (as opposed to 35 hl/ha for Coteaux du Layon). Two small areas within the area produce wines of such quality that they have earned their own appellations, bonnezeaux and quarts de chaume. They, and most of the best vineyards of the Coteaux du Layon, are on the steep slopes on the right bank of the Layon tributary of the Loire. terroir is all here, for Coteaux du Layon should be an intense wine made ideally from several tries through the vineyard, selecting botrytized grapes, or those that have begun to raisin on the vine. Producers such as Claude Papin of Ch Pierre Bise vinify grapes picked on slate, schist, clay, and sandstone separately to demonstrate the variation in style and potential longevity. Yields vary enormously according to the conditions of the vintage, but are officially limited to 35 hl/ha and 30 hl/ha for wines labelled Coteaux du Layon plus the name of one of the villages Beaulieu (-sur-Layon), chaume, Faye (d’Anjou), Rablay (-sur-Layon), Rochefort (-sur-Loire), St-Aubin (de Luigné), and St-Lambert (du Lattay). The appellation that includes the seven village crus is spread along about 20 km/12 miles of south-west facing slopes, in an extremely narrow strip of vines, above the Layon tributary of the Loire, together with a few slopes around St-Lambert, on buttes that catch drying winds straight off the Atlantic. After a period in the late 1990s when maximum possible sugar levels were sought at all costs, growers today tend to pick between 18 and 23% potential alcohol, producing wines with residual sugar of around 100 g/l, perhaps up to 200 g/l from the finest tries, which are sweet but not too rich to drink with gusto. In favourable vintages, some great wine is produced in this appellation, but producers are dogged by the depressing effect on selling prices of a substantial quantity of extremely ordinary just-sweet wine sold under the name Coteaux du Layon. Botrytized, particularly sweet wines may be labelled Sélection de Grains Nobles. Wines may be sold as demi-sec, moelleux, and, sweetest of all, liquoreux.
Quarts de Chaume
Extraordinary small enclave within the Coteaux du layon appellation producing, only in the best vintages and usually only as a result of noble rot infection, sweet white wines from botrytized Chenin Blanc grapes or, increasingly, such grapes dried on the vine. Total annual production can often be as little as a few thousand cases, from just over 30 ha/74 acres of vineyard, supposedly the finest quarter, or quart, of the Chaume part near Rochefort-sur-Loire of Coteaux du Layon (see france, history, for details). The vineyards here have the advantage of a southerly exposition within a sort of amphitheatre. The brown schist and carboniferous soils are distinctive and result in powerful wines, particularly since the average vine age is high. The minimum grape sugar level in the must is 298 g/l, which is only rarely achieved, so few new investments are being made in this minuscule but potentially glorious appellation. The naturally high acidity of the Chenin Blanc grape endows these wines, similar to but rarer than those of nearby bonnezeaux, with impressive longevity. Domaine des Baumard has tried to secure permission for its continued use of cryoextraction but in 2014 it was decreed that this freezing technique will be outlawed from 2019, and that Quarts de Chaume is officially the Loire’s first grand cru.
Bonnezeaux
Particularly well-favoured enclave for sweet white wine production within the Coteaux du layon appellation in the anjou district of the Loire. In this respect Bonnezeaux resembles quarts de chaume to the north west but, perhaps because of its greater extent (just under 100 ha/247 acres) spread across three south-facing buttes (small hills) of schist and quartz and much more exposed situation, it has not enjoyed such fame. A Bonnezeaux from a producer as reliable as Ch de Fesles can be a deep green-gold nectar at 10 to 20 years old. The wines are made exclusively from Chenin Blanc grapes grown on steep slopes near Thouarcé. These grapes should ideally be attacked by noble rot, sometimes concentrated by shrivelling on the vine, and at the very least have been picked only after several tries through the vineyard. Yields average only about 22 hl/ha.
Saumur
Town in the Loire just upriver from the anjou district giving its name to an extensive wine district and several appellations. Saumur is effectively a south western extension of touraine, yet is more of a centre for the wine trade of Anjou–Saumur than is Angers. The grapes grown in these latter two neighbouring regions are very similar, except that Saumur does not have Anjou’s range of potentially great sweet white wines. Saumur’s most important wine (and France’s most important mousseux) is Saumur Mousseux, a well-priced white and rosé sparkling wine made from Chenin Blanc grapes, often with a mix of international and Loire varieties. These grapes can come from an even wider area than that permitted for still Saumur, and the quality of winemaking is high among the larger houses of the town of Saumur, such as Gratien & Meyer, Langlois Chateau, and Bouvet Ladubay, and also at the important co-operative at St-Cyr-en-Bourg, with its extensive underground cellars hewn out of the local tuffeau. This calcareous rock predominates around Saumur, and was much quarried, both locally and abroad (according to Duijker it was used for rebuilding after the Great Fire of London, and also extensively in the Dutch city of Maastricht). This left the Saumurois with ready-made wine cellars, perfect not just for mushrooms, one of their most important products, but also for the maturation of their acidic wines which, as in champagne, had a natural tendency to retain some carbon dioxide in spring. Ackerman-Laurance was the first producer of sparkling Saumur, in the early 19th century. The wines have enjoyed considerable commercial success, although an increasing proportion of the base material for Saumur Mousseux is expected to be fashioned into crémant de Loire, for which the criteria are rather more rigorous: yields of 50 rather than 60 hl/ha and 12 rather than nine months’ tirage. Saumur Blanc can be remarkably difficult to distinguish from Anjou Blanc, being made from Chenin Blanc and being both high in acidity and potentially long lived. Only such conscientious growers as Chx du Hureau, de Targé, Villeneuve, and Domaine des Roches manage to coax much fruit out of them, however, by picking in tries and employing oak for fermentation and maturation, resulting in a graceful, limestone alternative to the firmer dry white anjou made on schist. Saumur Rouge is a much more successful wine, made on soils similar to those of chinon and bourgueil. It is made from at least 70% Cabernet Franc with Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Pineau d’Aunis and can be a refreshing, relatively light, fruity wine. A little more Saumur Rouge is produced than Saumur Blanc, but the most significant still wine of the region is Saumur-Champigny, whose extraordinary expansion in the 1970s and 1980s was originally due to fashion, and mainly Paris fashion at that, but has been sustained by growers’ determination to maximize vineyard potential and reach full ripeness. The Saumur-Champigny zone, prettily named after the village of Champigny, is on a tuffeau plateau that lends itself well to viticulture, as in neighbouring Touraine. Its high limestone content made the Chenin Blanc vine traditionally grown here prone to chlorosis in the post-phylloxera era, but by the mid 2000s more than 1,330 ha/3,200 acres of vines were producing Saumur-Champigny. It was the dominant St-Cyr-en-Bourg co-operative in particular that encouraged the planting of Cabernet Franc vines and developed the still red wine appellation with such success. Much Saumur-Champigny is too light to be worth ageing, although it is usefully, and quintessentially, fruity and flirtatious. A small amount of light rosé Cabernet de Saumur is made, usually considerably drier and less ambitious than Cabernet d’Anjou, while Coteaux de Saumur is Saumur’s medium-sweet white, made in very small quantities from Chenin Blanc grapes.
Touraine
The most important Loire region centred on the town of Tours. This is ‘the garden of France’, and Loire château country par excellence, a series of playgrounds for France’s pre-revolutionary aristocrats, and now the Parisian weekender’s rural paradise. The local tuffeau was quarried extensively to build these and more distant châteaux, leaving caves ideal for winemaking and wine maturation. Touraine’s most famous wines are the still red wines from the individual appellations of bourgueil, chinon, and St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil and its still and sparkling, dry to sweet whites from vouvray and montlouis. Wines called simply Touraine AOC come from a much larger zone, incorporating about 3,683 ha/9,097 acres of vineyard (much less than in the 1990s) in total extending from saumur in the west as far as the city of Blois in the east, encompassing very varied soils which may include clay, sand, tuffeau, and gravel. Viticulture is concentrated on the steep banks of the Loire and its tributary the Cher east of Tours. Cereals predominate on the cooler soils of the plateaux between river valleys. The climate of the region also shows considerable variation, with that of the most eastern vineyards being distinctly continental and affected by seriously cold winters, while vineyards at the western extreme are tempered by the influence of the Atlantic. If soil and climate vary considerably throughout Touraine, there is an enormous range of grape varieties too. White Touraine, the most important colour, must be made substantially from Sauvignon Blanc with only Sauvignon Gris, up to 20%, allowed as a blending partner. The best of these can provide a less expensive alternative to sancerre and pouilly-fumé. Touraine Rouge should be based on Cot (Malbec) and Cabernet Franc, with the latter favoured in the Atlantic-influenced sector west of Tours, although varietal Gamay is also allowed within the Touraine appellation, especially for primeur wines. Rosés have to be blends from the wide range of dark-skinned grapes grown in the region. About 600 ha of vines are dedicated to the production of the Touraine Mousseux that is so much less important than saumur Mousseux. Five communes may attach their name to Touraine. From its 187 ha/462 acres of vines on both banks of the Loire close to the famous château of Amboise, Touraine-Amboise produces mainly rosé wines from Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cot. The appellation’s white wines, dry to medium dry (or even moelleux—notably produced by Amboise’s excellent viticultural college Domaine de la Gabillière) depending on the year, are made exclusively from the long-lived Chenin Blanc. By 2013 Touraine-Azay-le-Rideau comprised just 36 ha of vineyard on both banks of the Indre, south of the Loire between Tours and Chinon on soil that is superior to that of the general Touraine appellation. It produces roughly equal quantities of crisp whites from Chenin Blanc and light rosés mainly from Grolleau, rather sprightlier than Rosé d’anjou. Touraine-Mesland in 2013 comprised about 110 ha of vineyard on a sand and gravel plateau immediately above the right bank of the Loire between Amboise and Blois. Chenin and Gamay are responsible for wines of all three colours. Touraine–Chenonceaux and Touraine–Oisly in Sauvignon Blanc country were authorized in 2011, the latter for whites only. The Chenonceaux reds depend on Cabernet Franc and Cot. Touraine-Noble Joué is an unusual appellation of barely 30 ha just south of Tours for pink wines made from at least 40% Pinot Meunier with Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.
Chinon
Significant red wine appellation in the touraine district of the loire (see map) in which a small amount of rosé, and satisfying dry white from Chenin Blanc grapes, is also produced. The total vineyard area was about 2,300 ha/5,683 acres in 2014. The vineyards extend south of the Loire on the banks of the Vienne, not far east of the fashionable red saumur-champigny, another product of mainly cabernet franc grapes, here often called Breton. No more than 10% of Cabernet Sauvignon is allowed. The region’s most famous son, the early-16th-century writer Rabelais, promulgated the wines of Chinon. In modern times, it is the gastronomic writers of Paris who have done much to increase demand for Chinon, and increase the extent of the vineyards that produce it (which had fallen to a few hundred hectares in the 1950s). Two distinct styles of Chinon are made. A fuller, long-term bourgueil-like wine comes from sites on the clay and tuffeau limestone slopes and plateaux, most notably the south-facing slopes of Cravant-les-Coteaux, and the plateau above Beaumont. Lighter wines are made from sand and gravel vineyards near the river (in effect the old flood plains of the Loire and Vienne), with the most elegant examples coming from the gravel beds around Panzoult. These wines are closer to St Nicolas-de-Bourgueil in style. Chinon is quintessentially a wine of refreshment, being light to medium bodied, often extravagantly scented (lead pencils is one common tasting note), and with an appetizing combination of fruit and acidity. The wines have become markedly richer and more satisfying as growers grass over their vineyards and use higher trellises, de-budding, and deleafing to ripen grapes more successfully. The best wines can benefit from bottle ageing, but that is not the point of the wine, which keeps the Chinon market free of foreign speculation on the part of collectors. Chinon is essentially a Frenchman’s wine, and it takes some local knowledge to seek out the best, often artisanal, bottlings. A high proportion of the wine is sold to merchants, whose blends vary considerably in quality.
Bourgueil
Potentially captivating red wines made on the north bank of the Loire in the west of the touraine district. The climate here is particularly gentle and rainfall is low, as in much of anjou to the immediate west. Of the 1,300 ha/3,200 acres of vineyard well over half are on the south-facing slopes of limestone and gravel which lead west from St-Patrice almost on the river to St-Nicolas, where fewer than a third of the vineyard is on the slopes The cabernet franc grape is mainly responsible for these medium-bodied wines, which are typically marked by a more powerful aroma (reminding some of raspberries, others of pencil shavings) and slightly more noticeable tannins than the wines of chinon to the south. As in Chinon, the proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon allowed in the wine has been reduced from 25 to 10% of the blend. Bourgueil can be aged for five or many more years in really successful, fully ripe vintages while St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, produced on about 900 ha of often lighter soils in the west of the region, is generally a lighter, earlier maturing wine. These fragrant wines are extremely popular in Paris and northern France but have yet to be discovered by most non-French wine lovers. A little dry rosé Bourgueil is also made, but the appellation does not, unlike Chinon, encompass white wines.
Montlouis
Overshadowed white wine appellation in the touraine district of the Loire that exists across the river from the much larger and more famous vouvray, although it has its own characteristics. As in Vouvray, the chenin blanc grape is grown exclusively for Montlouis, which is made in all degrees of sweetness and fizziness, according to each vintage’s peculiarities. An increasing proportion of still wine is bone dry and aged in oak. Although tuffeau also forms a base from which many a house and cellar is hewn, topsoils here on the south bank just downstream of Touraine-Amboise are lighter and sandier than in Vouvray, and the wines are less sharply defined, tending to mature considerably earlier (which can be a great advantage). About a third of the wine produced from Montlouis’s 400 ha/1,000 acres of Chenin Blanc is the usefully sturdy and characterful Montlouis Mousseux, or Montlouis Pétillant Naturel, the first aoc for a gently sparkling, fruity pétillant naturel wine made by the méthode ancestrale.
Sancerre
Dramatically situated hilltop town on the left bank of the upper Loire which lends its name to one of the Loire’s most famous, and famously variable, wines: racy, pungent, dry white Sauvignon Blanc, which enjoyed enormous commercial success in the 1970s. The town’s situation on such a navigable river, and the favourable drainage and topography of the rolling countryside around it, assured Sancerre’s long history as a wine producer; the suitability of the site for viticulture was obvious from Roman times. Until the mid 20th century, however, Sancerre produced red wines, and white wines from the Chasselas table grape. Sancerre’s dramatically simple, piercing Sauvignon flavours of gooseberries and nettles were initially introduced into the bistros of Paris as a sort of white wine equivalent of Beaujolais, but, by the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sancerre was regarded as the quintessential white wine for restaurants around the world. The average elevation of the Sancerre hills is between 200 m and 400 m/655–1,310 ft. The Sauvignon has adapted well to many of the varied terroirs around Sancerre, where, in 14 different communes, vines are cultivated, particularly on south-facing slopes. There are three distinct areas: the ‘white’ western vineyards are made up of clay and limestone soils with some Kimmeridgean marne, especially in the cru of Chavignol, that produce quite powerful wines; those between here and the town of Sancerre are high in gravel as well as limestone and produce particularly delicate wines; while those close to Sancerre itself are rich in flint (silex) and yield longer-living, particularly perfumed wines. Comparisons with pouilly-fumé, made just a few miles upstream on the opposite bank, are inevitable, although both are relatively large, heterogeneous appellations, Sancerre even more than Pouilly. The total area given over to the Sancerre appellation, which had declined to about 700 ha/1,730 acres in the 1960s, had reached almost 3,000 ha by 2012. A wide range of agricultural activity takes place on this terrain, and in many of the outlying villages the vine plays a subordinate role, but viticulture is particularly important in Bué and in nearby Chavignol, where the meticulous grower Henri Bourgeois is based and which is famous for its goat’s cheese. The climate here is distinctly continental, and the vineyards are easily subject to spring frosts, but the river to the east and the forests to the west moderate low temperatures. Vines are generally cordon or single guyot trained. Sancerre’s popularity has brought with it the inevitable increase in the proportion of mediocre wine produced, sometimes over-produced, within the zone. In particularly cool years, even the best producers have to work hard to avoid excessive vigour, resulting in unpleasantly herbaceous aromas and a lack of fruity substance but techniques such as grassing, de-budding, and leaf plucking result in healthier grapes and more concentrated wines. Most Sancerre is ready for drinking almost as soon as it is bottled, and rarely improves beyond two or three years, although the best certainly keep. There have since been attempts to marry Sancerre fruit with oak, with varying degrees of success. In years as ripe as 1989, some sweet vendange tardive wine was produced by the likes of Alphonse Mellot and Henri Bourgeois. Sancerre also exists in light, often beguiling, red and rosé versions, made from Pinot Noir grapes and representing approximately 10 and 6% of total production respectively. These wines enjoy a certain following, mainly in France, but need very high standards of winemaking and good weather to imbue them with a good core of fruit. climate change is helping.
Pouilly- Fume
Also known as Pouilly Blanc Fumé and Blanc Fumé de Pouilly, one of the Loire’s most famous wines, perfumed dry whites that epitomize the sauvignon blanc grape (along with nearby menetou-salon, quincy, reuilly, and, most notably, sancerre). All Sauvignon here is Sauvignon Blanc (no Gris allowed) and was often called Blanc Fumé, because wines made from this variety when grown on the predominantly limestone soils, with some flint (silex), supposedly exhibit a ‘smoky’ flavour, or whiff of gunflint (pierre à fusil). The wines are certainly perfumed, sometimes almost acrid, and it takes extensive local knowledge reliably to distinguish Sancerres and Pouilly-Fumés in a blind tasting of both. Pouilly-Fumé is arguably a more homogeneous appellation than Sancerre, which is not surprising since less than half as much Pouilly-Fumé is made as white Sancerre. Unlike that of Sancerre, the Pouilly-Fumé appellation applies only to white wines. The best Pouilly-Fumé (such as the range produced by Didier Dageneau) is perhaps a denser, more ambitiously long-lived liquid than Sancerre, for drinking at two to six years, for example, rather than one to four (although there are, as always with wine, exceptions). At the most historic estate, de Ladoucette’s magnificently turreted Ch du Nozet, are bottles which prove that Pouilly-Fumé can last for decades, although whether it actually improves is a matter of taste. Some producers began experimenting with oak for both fermentation and maturation in the mid 1980s and the wines of the region have become more complex. The appellation takes its name from the small town of Pouilly-sur-Loire on the right bank of the Loire in the Nièvre département. The name Pouilly-sur-Loire is given to the zone’s less distinguished wine, a usually thin and short-lived liquid made in very much smaller quantities from the chasselas grape, grown here in the 19th century for the tables of Paris. In the 1970s and 1980s, Pouilly-Fumé was much favoured by fashion, and the total area planted with Sauvignon Blanc increased considerably. By 2012 it totalled 1,273 ha/3,144 acres. Some of the finest vineyards are on the slopes of St-Andelain north of Pouilly.
Reuilly
Small but expanding French appellation so far inside the bend of the Loire that it is often described as coming from central France. Its most useful manifestation is as a less expensive and sometimes purer version of the sancerre appellation to the east made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes in one of the riper vintages. Considerable amounts of red and rosé wine are also made, from Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris (the local Gamay is sold as igp). Pale pink Reuilly has its devotees. Unlike nearby quincy, Reuilly is not just a sleepy viticultural centre, and the best wines yielded by its 215 ha/531 acres of vineyards scattered on the limestone base around the village of Reuilly can be impressive. This Loire aoc (which consisted of just 30 ha in the early 1990s) is not to be confused with that of rully in the Côte Chalonnaise.
Quincy
Rapidly expanding, historic white wine appellation in the greater Loire region producing racy dry wines from Sauvignon Blanc (with up to 10% Sauvignon Gris) grapes from a total area of vines that had grown to 269 ha/664 acres by 2012 of sand and gravel on the left bank of the Cher tributary. Its long history (it was the second appellation created, after châteauneuf-du-pape) and early popularity owe much to its proximity to river transport (especially in comparison with the much smaller nearby appellation reuilly). The wines tend to be a little more rustic, less delicate, than those made in Menetou-Salon and Sancerre to the east.
Menetou- Salon
Is just west of, and very much smaller than, the much more famous sancerre, near the city of Bourges, producing a not dissimilar range of red, white, and rosé wines which can often offer better value—from 535 ha/1,321 acres of vines in 2012. Sauvignon Blanc grown here is capable of making wines every bit as refreshingly aromatic as Sancerre. Soils in the appellation are mainly limestone and can be very similar to those in the more famous zone to the east, although Menetou’s vineyards are flatter and less compact, resulting in a less favourable mesoclimate. The best zone is around the village of Morogues, a name used on the labels of producers such as Henry Pellé. The village of Parassy also has a high concentration of vineyards. Sauvignon Blanc represents about 60% of the appellation’s total production, while Pinot Noir grapes are responsible for scented, light reds and pinks for early consumption, this lightness owing much to relatively high permitted yields—yet more evidence of the similarity between Sancerre and Menetou-Salon.
Gros Plant
Or, to give it a name that is more of a mouthful than the wine usually is, Gros Plant du Pays Nantais, is the country cousin of muscadet . Made from folle blanche vines, called Gros Plant here, with Colombard occasionally playing a minor part, it is grown in a wide arc east but mainly south of the city of Nantes on the Loire. Gros Plant is one of the most acidic-tasting wines made anywhere, and its aggressively dry style serves only to accentuate its inherent tartness—exacerbated by the grapes’ tendency to rot here before they ripen. The Folle Blanche vine responsible was introduced to this region by the dutch wine trade, and outnumbered the Muscadet vine until the ravages of phylloxera in the late 19th century. Gros Plant was promoted from vdqs to aoc in 2011. About a third as much Gros Plant is made as Muscadet, although a much smaller proportion ever leaves the region. As in Muscadet, it may be described as ‘sur lie’ if aged with lees contact until at least March.
Tuffeau
A common rock type in the central loire. Tuffeau blanc is calcareous but provides much better drainage than most limestones. This is the rock used to build many of the châteaux of the Loire and remaining hollows in the rock have been adapted for winemaking and storage. The overlying tuffeau jaune is more sandy, and is particularly suitable for the Cabernet Franc vine, underlying some of the best vineyards in chinon and saumur-champigny. It is distinct from both tufa and tuff.
Coteaux d’ Ancenis
Small aoc zone in the loire around the historic town of Ancenis between Nantes and Angers for light whites from Pinot Gris (occasionally called Malvoisie) and reds and rosés from Gamay.
Fiefs Vendéens
Small, oceanic aoc zone south of the Muscadet zone near the mouth of the Loire, qualified by one of the communes Brem, Chantonnay, Mareuil, Pissotte, or Vix, each with its own permitted encépagement. Most wines are red, from Cabernet Franc, Négrette, and Pinot Noir but there are rosés, often with Gamay, and some whites based on Chenin Blanc.
Coteaux de l’ Aubance
Small (barely 200 ha/500 acres) but sometimes excellent sweet white wine appellation in anjou on the left bank of the River Loire just south of the town of Angers and immediately north of Coteaux du layon. It takes its name from the Aubance, a tributary of the Loire. Total production is rather more than that of savennières across the river to the west, but the best results come from Chenin planted on outcrops of heat-retaining slate. The standard of winemaking is high, and a high proportion of the racy, sweet white Chenin Blanc wines made here is snapped up locally or in Paris. Red and dry white Anjou make up the bulk of production in this zone, with some red Anjou Villages Brissac, but in exceptional years Coteaux de l’Aubance can be just as noble, if not always as long-lived, as the Loire’s more famous sweet whites, and must owe their sweetness to a succession of tries through the vineyard, picking only the ripest grapes, a discipline, unusually, overseen by the inao. According to the vintage, the wines may be botrytized, and may carry the term Sélection de Grains Nobles on the label, or the grapes may be partly raisined on the vine.
Coteaux de Loir
Northerly wine outpost of the greater loire region on the confusingly named Loir tributary about 40 km/25 miles north of Tours in the Sarthe département. Viticulture seriously declined here, but enthusiasts such as Joël Gigou at Domaine de la Charrière have invested in a bright future for the varied wines of this small, 70-ha/173-acre area, of which jasnières is the most famous appellation. All three colours of wine are made, with pineau d’Aunis the principal dark-skinned grape, even though acidity can be very high in less ripe years. Cabernet Franc may stiffen reds and Grolleau is allowed into its light, dry rosés. Gamay and Cot (Malbec) are allowed in both. Dry white wines are made from Chenin Blanc but tend to lack the concentration of Jasnières.
Jasnieres
White wine appellation of just 50 ha/124 acres in an enclave within the less favourably exposed Coteaux du loir district in the northern Loire. The appellation all but expired in the 1950s but Joël Gigou at Domaine de la Charrière and others such as Domaine Renard-Potaire have injected new passion into the making of these traditionally dry wines from the Chenin Blanc grape. Locals see Jasnières as ‘the savennières of Touraine’, so dry and steely are these traditional wines in their youth, and so well do they respond to bottle ageing. In particularly ripe vintages since the late 1980s, however, extraordinarily rich, appley, botrytized wines have been fashioned, either dry or sweet according to the extent of noble rot infection. The soils are characterized by their high flint content, on the south-east-facing slopes on the north bank of the Loir. Annual production of Jasnières is about double that of white Coteaux du Loir.
Coteaux du Vendomois
AOC producing a wide range of light wines between the Coteaux du loir and the city of Vendôme in the greater loire Valley. The wines are necessarily crisp, this far from the equator, but a pale pink vin gris from the pineau d’aunis grape can be an attractive local speciality. Pineau d’Aunis must also constitute at least half of any blend for the slightly more solid reds, while Chenin Blanc is the principal white wine grape, often aided and abetted by Chardonnay, for some particularly tart white wines which represent about one bottle in six.
Cheverny
In the middle loire was promoted to full aoc status in 1993 and produces a wide range of wines in an enclave in the north east corner of touraine near Blois whose vineyards had grown to 632 ha/1,561 acres by 2012. Light reds and rosés may be made from Pinot Noir with some Gamay. But most Cheverny is based on Sauvignons Blanc and Gris, typically blended with a little Chardonnay and/or Chenin Blanc, which can offer a good-value northern riposte to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Wines made from the local romorantin grape have their own 53-ha appellation Cour Cheverny.
