schiller-wine: Cellar Tour and Tasting in the Cellar at Cave M. Plouzeau in Chinon, Touraine, with Owner/ Winemaker Marc Plouzeau

Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Cellar Tour and Tasting in the Cellar at Cave M. Plouzeau in Chinon, Touraine, with Owner/ Winemaker Marc Plouzeau - Loire Valley 2025 by ombiasy WineTours

The Loire Tour 2025 by ombiasy WineTours took place from Sunday, October 5 to Thursday, October 16, 2025. The tour started in Nantes and ended in Sancerre, with a bus transfer and lunch in Paris. There were 9 of us including Annette and myself.

Following:

Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine Bernard Baudry in Cravant-Les-Coteaux, Touraine - Loire Valley 2025 by ombiasy WineTours

Tasting at Domaine Couly-Dutheil in Chinon - Loire Valley 2025 by ombiasy WineTours

Lunch at Bar-Restaurant Le Bistrot du Marché of Hotel Le Lion d'Or in the Center of Chinon - Loire Valley 2025 by ombiasy WineTours

we stayed in Chinon and went over to Cave M. Plouzeau, where Marc Plouzeau showed us the cellar and conducted a tasting in the cellar.

The wines of Marc Plouzeau are represented in the USA by Weygandt Metzler.

Loire 2025 by ombiasy WineTours led by Annette Schiller

Annette Schiller in her announcement: What comes to your mind when you hear ‘Loire Valley’? Of course images of glorious Châteaux pop up in your mind. Yes that is true and we will visit some iconic château and dig deep into France’s history. However, during this wine tour we also discover a magnificent, but often overlooked French wine region and one of the most exciting best kept secrets of excellent, high quality wines at very reasonable prices. The Loire Valley wine region is a vast area and consists of several distinct wine regions, each with its own characteristic grapes, appellations, and wine style. We take you on a journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Auvergne mountains to explore this unique region. We learn to appreciate “Sancerre”, "Pouilly-Fumé", “Vouvray", “Chinon”, as well as many other not so familiar appellations.

Touraine

The Touraine wine region is the Loire Valley’s most diverse subregion. The climate is continental and the terroir is enormously varied: from chalky tuffeau to flinty-clay, some sands and gravels from the river’s deposits. Main grape varieties are Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, but also lots of fantastic Gamay, and Côt - the local name for Malbec. Delicious wines are produced from autochthone varieties such as Romorantin for whites, and Grolleau and Pineau d’Aunis for reds. The most famous appellations are Vouvray - always from Chenin Blanc - and Chinon for red wines.

Chinon

The medieval town of Chinon is also very important: it is steeped in decisive events having shaped the course of history of France. On the border between the three historical regions of Anjou, Poitou, and Touraine, the fortress-castle occupies a strategic place that was hotly contested in ancient times. From its rocky spur it dominates the entire territory, but also several centuries of history. It was here where the Plantagenêt court of Henry II. and Eleanor of Aquitaine was held and where Henry II. and his son Richard Lionheart died. Much later, in 1429 Joan of Arc met here with King Charles VII. to ask for providing her with an army to defeat the English which eventually ended the 100 year war and gave the territories north of the Loire and the Bordelais back to France after 300 years under English rule.

Cave M. Plouzeau in Chinon, Touraine (ombiasy WineTours)

In 1846 the Plouzeau family acquires Château de la Bonnelière on the left bank of the Loire river near Chinon. Pierre Plouzeau replanted the neglected vineyards in 1980. A winery was constructed at Château de la Bonnelière in 1989. Marc Plouzeau took over in 1999 and converted to organic viticulture. The wines are aged in a unique space: the cellars under the fortress of Chinon. Here, in these caves, hewn from limestone in the 12th century, the Plouzeau wines mature in oak or concrete eggs and the bottles are also
stored in these caves. I quote Marc Plouzeau: “Our cellars under the fortress of Chinon are a major asset for an optimal breeding. Our mono-parcellaires improve slowly in half-muids, at a constant temperature of 12° C and at high hygrometry. In these conditions, our wines are refined and stabilize naturally. The winemaking techniques are ancestral but use all the modernity that allows to preserve the best potential of grapes.” We will have a tasting of the Plouzeau wines in these incredible caves and Marc will tell us
everything about his idea of winemaking.

Château de la Bonnelière - Weygandt Metzler

Thanks to the will of two generations, the Château de la Bonneliére regained its nobility and its original destiny - vineyards and wine. In 1976, Pierre Plouzeau bought the family property, renovated the castle and replanted the vineyards. In 1989, a modern winery was born as well as a wine, "Chinon Château de la Bonneliére." Pierre's son, Marc, took over the domaine in 1999. Marc continued to develop the estate, going fully organic and perfecting the cellar. The vineyard of 20 ha is divided into three types of soil (gravel, Clay limestone and flint clay). All give rise to very different wines. "Les Cornuelles" is a parcel of 55 year old vines on "tuf." "Les Clos de Roches" is considered possibly the greatest terroir of the "left bank" of Chinon.

Arriving