Behind the vats at Beaujardin.

As good customers, we were invited up to 'Beaujardin' in Bléré for an open day where a 10% discount was being offered as well as a look behind the vats, some wine tasting plus some arts & crafts stalls. It was good timing for us as we needed to top up our wine rack.  

https://vins-beaujardin.com/

Sampling some of the delights of our region...

 

Great fun with our friends last week doing our wine tour of some of the wines we had sampled the night before over dinner.

We also did  a wee bit of sightseeing before heading back home to sample some of our purchases into the evening.

Wine and food, it's all a question of taste...

 

So, on Thursday we did our 'wine run' visiting three of our favourite sources the 'Cave Cooperative de Blere' 'Plou et Fils' at Chargé (near Amboise) and Cave des Producteurs de Montlouis-Sur-Loire (now rebranded as 'Maison Laudacius'). Here in Centre-Val de Loire we are very much spoiled for choice for buying wine with friends each having their favourites. We have taken up recommendations which nearly always prove to be good and also occasionally go off-piste and visit random 'caves' in the hope of finding something different.   

It had been our intention to have lunch at one of favourite restaurants when on the 'wine run', ‘Le Pied dans le plat' as we have never been disappointed there and we knew it would be nice and cool inside!

We actually were sat at the table but when given the menu we decided against dining there. The starter choices were Octopus and mussels, smoked salmon and spinach or chaudin, none of which appealed plus the mains were also not to our taste,shame really as were looking forward to it. It won't put us of the place but it meant we had to find an alternative. 

We decided against stopping at nearby Chaumont-sur-Loire and instead ended up in Onzain and had lunch at 'La Charbonette' which proved to be a good choice. 

We went out...

On Tuesday we actually did something 'normal',at least for us, we visited some of our favourite wine caves to restock our cellar. We even had a picnic!

 

Another sparkling day out...stocking up for the festive period.

Good day out yesterday with Jane and Peter stocking up on sparkly wine for Xmas...took in Montlouis-sur-Loire, Vouvray and also somewhere new for us for wine - Blere (more on this later) which by coincidence I'd featured yesterday on my other blog

A taste of 'Le Tasting Room'

On Friday Pauline and I were invited over to ‘Le Tasting Room’ in the village of Noizay which sits 15 minute to the west of Amboise. Our hosts Cathy & Nigel Henton, wine professionals with 35 years’ experience in the industry showed us their tasting room and dining room where they entertain their clients. Their wine tour business has recently moved to the new location which acts as a base offering their clients a ‘Loire Wine Discovery day’, a unique wine tour which includes lots of wine tasting, a top quality lunch and a winery visit. 

Their infectious enthusiasm and obvious knowledge ensure for a good day out. 

You can check out their website here: https://www.letastingroom.com/

2018 Sancerre road-trip part III - overnight stop in Sancerre

Our overnight stay on our road-trip was in Sancerre where we booked into one of the local hotels and had a good dinner in a surprisingly busy restaurant for the time of year. 

On previous visits, for different reasons, we had not climbed the 'La Tour des Fiefs' which is all that is left of a once impregnable castle of six towers. Its construction dates from the end of the fourteenth century. This time we did! - from the top you enjoy an exceptional 360° view over the Loire river and the Sancerre vineyards.

After our overnight stay it was off to the nearby village of Chavignol for a bit of wine-tasting (and buying) at the cave of Henri Bourgeois.

A 'hole' new world of Loire Valley wines.

Way back in 2012 (scary) this large whole in the ground appeared near one of favourite wine suppliers   'Domaine de de la Croix Melier' in Montlouis, we had always meant to see what grew out of it and in spite of being around the corner from it many times since, failed to pop around for a look. 

Well this week we popped round and wow!,impressive or what?

It is a new (not so new) facility for Francois Chidaine and judging by the size of the building he is a very large producer. We didn't go in as it's a bit fortress like plus we have our supplier around the corner...well at least for now. 

Good blogpost on Francois Chidaine here

Something else for the weekend...walk with the winemakers of the Loire

This weekend why not join the winemakers of the Loire Valley in walking through their estates and sampling their wines on route.Here in Touraine you have the choice of  three AOC regions, Vouvray,Chinon and Touraine-Azay-le-Rideau. The winemakers will be happy to explain the work that goes on in the vineyard and the wine-making process itself. the walks can be up to 3 hrs long but will have 'tasting breaks' along the way plus their are shorter walks available for families. Many offer walks with English being spoken.

Check out their website for more detail

Have a sparkling weekend...at Vouvray in the Loire Valley

Vouvray wine fair

Vouvray Wine Fair (Foire aux vins)

From 13/08/2015 to 16/08/2015

 

Discover the wines of Vouvray presented by a variety of local winemakers in the heart of the troglodyte  caves ‘de la Bonne Dame’ a great experience – try not to be the nominated driver!.
Visitors can also enjoy gourmet specialties to accompany the wines.

Free entry. Tasting glass is € 3.00 on site.   10 am -7 pm
Location: Vouvray - Caves de la Bonne Dame  : France 

Map location

Official website

http://www.vins-vouvray.com/evenements-vouvray.php

     

All a question of taste part I...wines 'Val de Loire'

On Thursday we accompanied friends Mike and Liz over to 'La Vienne' for a spot of wine tasting at the cave de producteurs in Neuville de Poitou

They had bought their 'Haut Poitou' wines here in the past but since their last visit it has been taken over by Frédéric Brochet under the umbrella of his Ampelidae brand .

It is bright and modern and quite an investment...from the man who is quoted as saying "I would have believed that I had to stay in the shade of Sancerre, Burgundy or whatever. Which now I don’t  – I am convinced I can do better than either!"...a bold statement. 

We liked and bought his 'Marigny Neuf' Sauvignon blanc but are not qualified to comment on how it compares.His wines are marketed under the 'Val de Loire' label which on the face of it seems like stretching the boundaries just a little bit too far (the vineyards are in 'La Vienne') but as their very good local stockist in Descartes (Le Dit Vin) informed us "Le Haut-Poitou is part of Val de Loire, which is a very big wine producing area, going from the Atlantic Coast (Nantes) as far over as Sancerre/ Menetou so it is normal to see Val de Loire on the labels" 

You can find a good interactive map explaining this here.