Le Thoureil – a beautiful riverside village perched on the banks of the Loire

It was such a beautiful morning that I popped down to the river early this morning to walk Sybil . Le Thoureil is one of the prettiest villages perched on the river Loire half way between Angers and Saumur and just a 15 minute walk from our home.

If you’ve never been up in a hot air balloon, I can wholeheartedly suggest you give it try in the Loire valley.

Most people don’t realize that taking back wine bottles with them on the airplane is not only less complicated than they thought, but it’s often the easiest, safest, and most affordable way to get you wine back home.

It’s interesting to see how the vintage year has such an impact upon vine development. In 2011 the Cabernet Franc sprung into action early and by the end of May they were in full flower. In 2012 you can see that the vines have not reached that point and this year we are even further behind with the lack of sunshine throughout May. We count 100 days from flowering to harvest so it looks like we’ll be picking considerably later this year.

Flowering is an important stage in the vineyard year. Vines further east have flowered and the fruit has set whereas here in Anjou, our vines are in full flower.

Often in France we hear the expression ‘lutte raisonnée’ and for the non-French speaker this can be a bit of a mystery. What is ‘lutte raisonnée’?
The expression applies to an approach in the vineyard. The literal translation is ‘reasoned struggle’ or’ reasoned battle’