Jim's Loire

In my fourth and final article on Loire wines I cover the western end of the Loire Valley - Anjou, the Pays Nantais and the Vendée. Anjou is frequently linked with Saumur but as Anjou and the Nantais share the same geological structure it makes equal sense to link these two adjacent areas. Both are part of the hard, igneous rock of Brittany - very different from the clay and limestone of the Paris Basin that runs eastward…

Outside France the Loire is often considered almost exclusively a white wine region; not surprising given that the region's best known wines on export markets are probably white Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Muscadet and perhaps Vouvray. Actually, the Loire is a far from a red-free region as the proportion of red and rosé made is around 45%, despite Robert Parker's remarkable assertion in The World’s Greatest…

The second of my Loire four-part series concentrates on eastern Touraine, which I have  extended westwards to take in Touraine Azay-le-Rideau and northward to the valley of Le Loir. 

If your image of the Loire is a series of honey-coloured châteaux, then you will be thinking of this section of the valley, the garden of France. Thinking of châteaux like the lovely Azay-le-Rideau and Chenonceau or the grandiose pile that…

This is the first of an in-depth examination of the Loire's four main regions.

The Central Loire Vineyards: An Overview

The 5394 hectares that make up the Central Loire vineyards are not only in the centre of the Loire Valley but also are in the heart of France. The bridge over the river at Pouilly-sur-Loire marks the halfway point of the river’s long journey to the sea – 1000 kilometres (600 miles), while the small…