Tagged with "Loire wine tours"

Jo Pithon, legendary winemaker in Anjou has sold his domaine to Ivan Massonnat after 40 years of dedicating his life to wine.

Using up bits and bobs in the fridge to make a really tasty winter lunch. I took half a butternut squash and half an aubergine,

Off-beat to say the least. Jean-François Merieau’s Tu le Boa is an extraordinary wine. In 2000 he made just 1500 bottles from tiny yields (around 20hl/ha) of Sauvignon Blanc.

The biodynamic approach to growing grapes includes burying cows’ horns in the winter and digging them up again in the spring. What’s that all about?

We’ve been living in the Loire for 12 years now and this is the first year that we have seen smiles on the faces of growers all over the region.

Definitely in our top 10 favourite cheeses. Reblochon is a washed rind, raw cow’s milk cheese made in the Savoie area of France.

A beautiful bunch of Chenin Blanc still hanging on the vine at Chateau de Fesles in the heart of the Bonnezeaux appellation taken on Saturday. 

The Loire is the second biggest producer of sparkling wine in France after Champagne but here we call it Crémant de Loire.

Grapes are looking superbly healthy and there are plenty of them at Domaine de la Cotelleraie in the St Nicolas de Bourgueil appellation here in the Loire valley.

Why would you bother picking grapes by hand when you can use a machine? Small growers often choose to pick by hand. Why do they do that?

The Loire harvest 2018 has begun and vintage is now in full swing. First to be given the go ahead were the Chardonnays destined for sparkling wine, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.

I’m calling this a squidgy chocolate raspberry dessert rather than a cake because there is no flour and it’s something you would serve as dessert rather than with a coffee in the morning or cup of tea in the afternoon (not that you couldn’t of course because it’s delicious!).