It’s been a busy month for us here in the Loire. We caught up with good friend Joyce Rothenburg from New York over a lazy Sunday lunch at the beginning of the month outside in the garden, the first time we were able to after weeks of damp wet weather. The weather then broke again and we had monumental amounts of rain around the 10th and 11th of June forcing our cycling guests to completely rethink their plans and spend more time with us here learning about the wines of the Loire rather than peddling along the riverside.
The Le Mans Gang’s 8th visit to Le Tasting Room for a day of Loire wine and a lazy lunch
The week of the Le Mans 24 hours race is always our busiest of the year and 2018 was no exception. We had 33 people through that week culminating with the Le Mans Gang arriving on the Friday for a day of food and wine. Nigel then enjoyed the racing over the weekend while I had a tranquil couple of days to draw breath before another very busy week.
I spent an afternoon with the students at ESA ( the Ecole Superieure d’Agriculture in Angers). ESA has adopted the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting (the London based wine education organisation that teaches 44,000 students each year worldwide). My job this year has been to present the wines of Italy and Spain to students studying the International Marketing and Commerce of Vins de Terroir culminating in a ‘mock’ blind tasting exam under my guidance (using wines that they were more familiar with). It reminded me of taking my wine exams so many years ago. At the level we are teaching, marks are awarded for using the Systematic Approach but they are not expected to name the grape or the wine. Some had a go however and one student nailed the St Nicolas de Bourgueil.
My brother and his wife, Nigel and me in the garden this past weekend
Last week culminated in a visit from my brother and his wife and we were lucky enough to be blessed with fantastic sunny weather. We sailed on the river with Patricia of Rêves de Loire, ate on the banks of the Loire at La Route du Sel, enjoyed a family party complete with live music and theatre with our next door neighbours and were able to get out on our bikes to enjoy the Anjou countryside during the Vélo Vintage celebrations.
Enjoying a spectacle that combined the story of 2 brothers using the songs of Bourvil
