Currently, there are 4 French tours by ombiasy WineTours: Bordeaux, Bourgogne + Champagne, Rhône Valley and Alsace (in combination with Germany-South). Annette plans to add a 5th French region: The Loire Valley. Against this background, we attended a Loire Valley winemaker dinner at Imperfecto
Michelin Star Food and Crémant de Loire Wines: Winemaker Dinner with Owner Juliette Monmousseau of Bouvet-Ladubay, a Leading Crémant de Loire Producer, and Sommelier Raquel Ortega Torres at Imperfecto by Enrique Limardo, Washington DC, USA
and a winemaker dinner with Owner/ Winemaker Sylvain Champigny of Domaine de Lallay in Chinon and Owner/ Winemaker Patricia Veron of Domaine des Cormiers Roux in Vouvray at Et Voila.
Both were in the USA for the first time, with a view of exploring the Washington DC and Virginia market with their importer and distributer Loire Valley Distribution, owned and run by Cyril Merienne. The wines they poured were excellent. I wish them all the best.
Loire Wines - Wine Searcher
The Loire Valley is a key wine region in western France. It follows the course of the Loire river on its long journey through the heart of France, from the inland hills of Auvergne to the plains on the French Atlantic coast near Nantes.
As the third-largest appellation in France, the Loire Valley is highly significant in terms of both quantity and quality wine production. The region generates vast quantities (around four hundred million liters each year) of everyday wines, as well as some of France's very finest and highest quality bottles.
Diversity is another of the region's key strengths. The wine styles made here range from the light, tart Muscadet and sweet, honeyed Bonnezeaux to the sparkling whites of Vouvray and juicy, tannic reds of Chinon and Saumur. It is quite telling that this brief sketch of the region's wines does not even make reference to the two most famous Loire Valley wines of all - Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé.
White wines are clearly the Loire Valley's strong suit, and account for the vast majority of production. A significant proportion of these are produced under IGP titles. The Loire Valley has four IGPs, the most common of which is the region-wide IGP Loire (formerly dubbed Vin de Pays du Jardin de la France).
The key white-wine grape varieties used to make Loire Valley whites are Sauvignon Blanc (generally associated with the central Loire around Sancerre, but found throughout), Chenin Blanc (often found in the Loire Valley proper, around Tours, Saumur and Anjou), and Melon de Bourgogne (the grape behind Muscadet). More popular than traditional, Chardonnay is also encountered, mainly in IGP wines.
Loire reds are of increasingly high quality, and of increasing importance as consumer preferences continue to move toward red wines. Although they offer less stylistic diversity than the whites, a light-bodied, fruity Gamay from the Fiefs Vendeens is a nevertheless quite different from a spicy, tannic Bourgueil (from Cabernet Franc).
The number one red wine variety is unquestionably Cabernet Franc – the grape behind the reds of Chinon, Saumur and Bourgueil. Lighter-bodied, less "serious" wines are made from Pinot Noir, Malbec (known here as Côt) and Gamay.
Perhaps due to the relative closeness to Burgundy, Pinot Noir is the major red grape of Sancerre (although red Sancerre is rare). Further south, towards central France, is Saint-Pourcain, which often incorporates some Gamay.
With such a wide repertoire of wines stretched out over so many miles, it has become necessary to divide the Loire into a series of smaller regions. Pays Nantais, Anjou, Saumur, Touraine and the various appellations collectively referred to as "Upper Loire". Little-known (and often forgotten) are the wines from the river's uppermost stretches, including Saint-Pourcain, in the Auvergne department.
Each of these subregions has its own particular specialty. Pays Nantais is effectively synonymous with dry, crisp whites, as epitomized by Muscadet. Anjou specializes in Chenin Blanc in both a sweet style from Coteaux du Layon and a dry from Savennieres. Touraine continues the Chenin Blanc theme (mostly dry here though) and complements it with dry, Cabernet Franc-based reds.
The Upper Loire, home of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume, is undoubtedly Sauvignon Blanc country, and stands in stark contrast to the red-wine specialist regions further upriver, where Gamay and Pinot Noir are dominant.
The region's vast size makes it impossible to sum up itsterroir in any succinct way, hence the 51 appellations that can be found throughout. The relatively continental climate in the river's upper stretches becomes decidedly maritime as the river approaches the Atlantic coast.
The soils also vary considerably as the river drops gently down through the countryside. The hard granite in the Cotes du Forez is strikingly different from the flint and limestone around Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire, and even more so from the soft, crumbly "tuffeau" of Anjou.
Although often overshadowed by France's more prestigious regions – most obviously Bordeaux to the south – the Loire Valley has played a vital role in French wine history for many centuries. The region's fortunes have waned in the past few decades, mostly because modern wine consumers and critics show a clear preference for heavy, robust reds – the only style of wine the Loire does not produce.
Et Voila/ The Washington Post
My mom is such a fan that she requested this Belgian restaurant in the Palisades for her 90th birthday, where she would have ordered waffles (“the best!”) had only they been served at night. Me? I go for the superlative steamed mussels in a double-decker pot, the top of which is used for empty shells. My current pick involves a base of creamy red curry, resonating with lemongrass and ginger. But the stars of the show are the plump Dutch-style mussels themselves, which chef-owner Claudio Pirollo buys from a Belgian family in Maine. Eaten with crisp golden fries, the best around, the mussels make a joyful meal for just under $25.
No one-trick pony, the restaurant checks off a number of boxes. Its hamburger is a tower of juicy Oregon beef and glossy toasted bun; its desserts run to such lovelies as floating island; and if you’re looking for privacy, this charmer, renovated two years ago, offers spaces in three sizes, my favorite of which is the tall, 10-seat chef’s table in the rear.
The Dinner
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