What's not to like?

A good day out with friends yesterday to buy some sparkling wine as a gift  for up and coming event. We tasted wines from the Vouvray, Montlouis-sur-Loire and Noble-Joué appelations and had a spot of lunch - what's not to like?

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 I...picnic lunch and a 'beau detour'.

Travelling from our homes here in Southern Touraine over to Sancerre for a bit of wine tasting, we have many opportunities to take in new places to visit, for this trip Liz had suggested Mehun-sur-Yèvre at the gateway to the Sologne. It is listed as one of ‘Les plus beaux detours de France’, which is always a good point of reference. John who was our navigator for the trip ( he has sat-nav ) had identified a good spot for us to stop and have our picnic lunch – the ‘Jardins du duc Jean de Berry’in the centre of town, which proved to be an excellent choice.

Covering an area of ​​about 3 hectares, in the heart of the town, the gardens are actually crossed by two rivers the Yèvre and Annain. They have been allowed to meander indiscriminately to create little  islands accessed by a series of bridges which make for a very pleasant walk

The backdrop to the gardens are the impressive towers of the former chateau of 'Duc Jean de Berry' and the imposing Notre Dame church.

After a hearty lunch to which everyone had made contributions we headed off thinking (especially Liz, as it has a pottery museum) that there was probably more to explore here than just the gardens.

Footnote: This lot know how to do picnics...we even had a fab dessert of apple pie and custard, courtesy of Angela.

Sparkling cave visit...Vouvray Foire aux vins

After the brocante  in Amboise on bank holiday Monday we headed over to 'Les caves de la Bonne-Dames' in Vouvray for a spot of wine-tasting.

Have to say that I was  impressed by the fact that it was advertised and signposted all the way from Amboise.

As there were a number of events over the holiday weekend it was a quiet affair but plenty of options to taste and as you only pay €3.00 for your glass great value for money.

Being the 'designated driver' Pauline was the main wine-taster for the day and did it with great gusto!

We picked up some sparkling and some still wines from suppliers new to us so well worth the visit.

Through rosé coloured glasses...

Pauline and I did the visit to Tours yesterday along with our friend Dave,lunch then a spot of wine-tasting...

and although through rosé coloured glasses the city was looking resplendent in these early days of spring.

On the way back down we visited the small troglodyte chapel of Notre Dame deLorette in the Vallée de Courtineau as Dave had never been

Up to Tours for a spot of wine tasting...

Pauline and I are heading up to Tours on the bus on Saturday to sample the 2015 vintage from the winemakers of Bourgueil...all welcome.

Passing the taste test...

We brought a couple of bottles of Canadian wine back with us from our recent trip and last night, with our French neighbour over for dinner we decided to get his view on it.Pleased to report that it was well received and we enjoyed it more than the Bordeaux we did the 'taste test' with...all a question of taste.

Canadian wine was a 'Trius' (Ontario's Winery of the Year) Merlot (2013) from Niagara-on-the-Lake.

French wine was a 'Chateau du Curton' (2009) from Bordeaux

A good day out...Chaumont garden festival.

In recommending things to do for our guests at our rental houses I was suggesting a visit to the 'International garden Feastival' at Chateau Chaumont-sur-Loire with a spot of wine-tasting and lunch 'en route' when I realised it was a post I hadn't done of our visit in June with friends Mike and Liz. 
It has the makings of a good day out...head up towards Amboise, skirt round it (save Amboise for another day) on the D31 then on to the D751. Continue on this road until you see the sign ‘Cave degustation visite’ turn right after sign into 'Plou et Fils' for a bit of wine tasting (consider it an apero before lunch).

Try their sparkling rose as well as others.. 

 You can ‘hike’ up to the higher ground to have a close-up view of their vines.

After you visit continue along D751 until you see the red restaurant banners of ‘Le Pied dans le plat', parking is on your left.

It is a troglodyte restaurant with good food, ambiance and service.

 After lunch continue on the D751 for another 10 minutes or so on to Chaumont-sur-Loire. As you enter you can stop and take in the views of the mighty river Loire before heading up to the chateau.

 You can park (free) down by the river and then make your way up the long climb uphill, which can be a pleasure if you are fit, or you can continue driving uphill past the entrance, in the direction of Montrichard, then take the first right, through the crossroads towards the school and you'll find the rear car park at the entrance to the 'Garden Festival'. 

You can visit the garden festival on its own for 12.50€ or buy a combined ticket for chateau and gardens for 17.00€ depending on how much time you have.Here is my record of this year's festival in pictures.

Stroll through the park towards the chateau - look out for the 'art' within the grounds- and onto its drawbridge before entering the inner courtyard.

Hot off the press...

Well cold actually...our neighbours in Lesigny who helped harvest our grapes to add to their own presented me with some 'Bernache' from the first pressing... and very tasty it is too,which is promising for the wine.

They told us we have to open the bottles every so often as it is still fermenting and there is a risk of them exploding! We were actually aware of this as we had previously bought some from a supermarket to taste and we were told to keep the bottle upright as the cap had a hole in it to let it breathe.

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.

     

Awash with wine...

Went up to Tours yesterday to visit 'VitiLoire' where over 150 local producers were allowing you to sample their wares. Their tasting booths were set up right in the city centre, on the Boulevard Heurteloup , Station Square and in the garden of the Prefecture.

You paid €5.00 for your tasting glass and off you went...

we tried to be discriminate about choosing which wines we tasted, going for some Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé  as we have another road-trip planned for there later this month.

We also selected some nearer home so as we might pop in as we drive around the region.

We had 'lunch' from one of the stands within the 'gourmet village' dedicated to the gastronomy of Touraine. 

As we made our way through the booths we noticed that there was a great variety of 'tasters'. The guy above being part of a ' stag' weekend no doubt...either that or his partner had sampled one too many!

There were also the lucky people who had obviously just arrived at Tours' station (luggage gave them away) to be met by the sight of  hundreds of opportunities to get an early introduction to the diversity of the great wines of our region. We wondered also if you bought the glass on the Saturday did it cover you for the two days...or maybe they changed the colour of the writing...on talking to a charming local who actually lived on Boulevard Heurteloup he dispelled any thoughts of any 'control' showing us the glass he was using from two years ago! Said he pops down for his aperitif to the largest cellar in the region when it rolls into town...I liked him!

For ease of access we headed up to the end of the tramline (Vaucanson) at the airport from where we were taken straight into the heart of the city  and back for €2.70 return.

Smelling the roses...

Hoping to get to the rose festival at Chedigny today though have to work in morning first. You can also get another of the senses working by doing some wine tasting at the 'Vitiloire' wine fair in Tours which goes into its second day today, You can see some pics. from yesterday on Jim Budd's blog here.

The perfect day?...

Out to play again yesterday with Mike & Liz...good lunch at 'Le Cheval Blanc' in Bléré... 

then searching out the nice Sauvignon Blanc that accompanied the meal at 'Plou & Fils' at  Charge just outside Amboise and conveniently on the route to our afternoon visit...

...to the Garden Festival' at Chaumont-sur Loire. More details to follow! Mike was kind enough to drive...back to Barrou and over to Scottish couple who are staying in gite opposite us for aperos- the perfect day?