Loire

The Loire has four major sub-regions, from the Atlantic coast upstream to the middle of France. Right in the west lies the Pays Nantais around Nantes, the muscadet region. Next comes Anjou-Saumur, between the hills of Anjou and the slopes around Saumur.

Touraine stretches between Montsoreau and Blois and, according to InterLoire, has 17 appellations, with names such as Chinon and Vouvray. Further upstream lies Centre-Loire with ten appellations, including Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Menetou-Salon, Quincy and Reuilly. There it is all about sauvignon blanc for white and pinot noir for red and rosé.

Four grapes determine most of the Loire wines. In the Pays Nantais that is melon de bourgogne, on the label melon B. Muscadet is made exclusively from this grape and is always a dry, still white wine. The largest muscadet is Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, southeast of Nantes along the rivers Sèvre and Maine. With the mention sur lie the wine stays on its fine lees for the whole year after the harvest and is bottled at the estate where it was made.

In Anjou-Saumur and Touraine, chenin blanc dominates for white and cabernet franc for red. For Rosé d'Anjou, grolleau is the main grape, a grape found only in the Loire Valley; this rosé is not completely dry. In Centre-Loire, sauvignon blanc is the white grape.

Crémant de Loire is a sparkling wine that undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle using the traditional method. The appellation has existed since 1975 and is intended only for white and rosé sparkling wine. The area covers parts of the departments of Maine-et-Loire, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Vienne and Deux-Sèvres.

The INAO specification is strict. The grapes are picked by hand; a harvesting machine is forbidden. From 150 kilos of grapes, at most 100 litres of must may be obtained. The wine ages at least 9 months on its lees in the bottle and may only be sold 12 months after bottling for the second fermentation. Permitted grapes include chenin, chardonnay, cabernet franc, pinot noir and grolleau.

Saumur is an appellation from 1936 in the departments of Maine-et-Loire, Vienne and Deux-Sèvres. White Saumur comes from chenin, red Saumur from cabernet franc, and there are also rosé and sparkling Saumur, white and rosé. The subsoil of chalk and tuffeau is riddled with cellars hewn into the rock.

Saumur-Champigny is exclusively red wine from cabernet franc, since 1957, from eight communes on the left bank, including Souzay-Champigny, Montsoreau and Varrains. Vouvray lies in Touraine, on the right bank of the Loire, about 20 kilometres upstream of Tours. It is chenin blanc from eight communes, still in dry, off-dry and sweet, or sparkling.

From Saumur the shop carries a wide choice from Langlois-Château, a house founded in 1885 in Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent that has belonged to the Bollinger family group since 1973. From this house we stock Saumur, Saumur Champigny and the Saumur Blanc and Rouge Clos Saint Florent. In addition there are the Crémant de Loire Brut Réserve, Blanc de Blancs, Brut Vintage, Cuvée Brut Rosé and the Rosé 'Cuvée LC'.

Also on the shelf are the Rosé Saumur Brut from Veuve Amiot and a Vouvray from Denis Meunier. From Domaine d'Avrillé there are a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc with the origin IGP Val de Loire. This protected geographical indication covers a large area from Loire-Atlantique to Puy-de-Dôme, allows the grape name on the label and has a maximum yield of 90 hectolitres per hectare. If you would like advice on a bottle, call the shop or drop by at Brink 2 in Bathmen.

The shop is at Brink 2 in Bathmen. Open Tuesday to Friday from 09.00 to 18.00 and Saturday from 09.00 to 17.00. For advice, call 0570 541 278 or email info@bockje.nl.