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10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the Loire Valley

A few things that you might not know about the Loire valley.

10 Oct, 2016

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News from the Loire September 2026! A very belated

News from the Loire September 2026!
A very belated newsletter from the Loire giving you our news.
It's been a very busy few months. Harvest started historically early and as we move towards the end of September I can report that we have had less that 1mm of rain this month. What a year it's been for growers in the Loire (and all over France).
The grapes are in and fermentations bubbling away in the cellars as I write.
And in other news, we had a family wedding at the end of August. Three days of celebrations and festivities with family over from the UK to join in the fun.

To catch up with all our news, our favourite bottles, tasting things on the dining table and news from the vineyards click the link in my bio.

#loirevalley #loirevalleywines #vendanges26 #newsfromtheloire

Smiles all round @chateauyvonne today as Mathieu V

Smiles all round @chateauyvonne today as Mathieu Vallée and his team celebrated the end of harvest.

And it’s good news from him. A storm at the beginning of September brought 40mm of much needed rain and it changed everything. A week later, the Cab Franc started coming in, ripe, balanced and with a decent amount of juice.

His Chenin came in before the rain so yields are lower but with intense concentration.

What a year it’s been for vignerons in the Loire.

#vendanges2026 #saumurchampigny #cabfranc #loirewines #chateauyvonne

Any idea what this is? If you've ever driven pas

Any idea what this is?

If you've ever driven past our local distillery during harvest time, you'll see an impressive mountain of grape skins, seeds and pulp.

This is marc de raisin — what’s left after the grapes have been pressed.

Historically there was concern about people recovering alcohol from marc or manipulating wine production.

So the state created a system whereby winegrowers had to account for their by-products and, for many years, sent them to an approved distiller.

This system was formalised by the EU and was linked to EU Common Agricultural Policy and wine market regulations.

While it used to be compulsary for growers to deliver their marc to the local distillery, the law changed in 2014 giving growers a little more flexibility.

These days they can be composted, sent to the distillery or go to a methanisation centre. But, growers are still obliged to dispose of their wine-making by products properly.

So that enormous pile isn't waste waiting to be thrown away. It's part of the fascinating cycle of the wine industry — grapes → wine → marc → distillation → alcohol and other useful products.

#loirewinetours#Harvest #LoireValley #LoireWine #Vouvray #FrenchWine #WineHarvest #MarcDeRaisin #Distillery #wineeducation

One minute we were celebrating 90 years of the Vou

One minute we were celebrating 90 years of the Vouvray appellation with a beautiful gala dinner and just 4 days later, a brief, but violent thunderstorm accompanied by large hailstones wiped out 600 ha of the 2200ha in the appellation.

It’s so brutal for the growers. It’s not as if 2026 has been an easy season to begin with. Endless high temperatures, no rain and hot dry winds have beaten the vineyards into submission this summer. Even now, as we approach harvest, for those growers that still have grapes left on the vine, things are looking extremely tricky.

We are at the stage we call ‘veraison’. This is where grapes reach the last stage of maturity before picking. But, with no rain and persistent hot weather the vines have shut down. They are protecting themselves, not putting all their energy into ripening the grapes.

Every day we look at the weather forecast and see predictions of rain but we need a ‘good’ rain, not just 1 or 2mm that practically evaporates before it reaches the soil.

Our thoughts are with the growers whose parcels have been affected and also with those that still have grapes on the vine. This is going to be a complicated vintage whatever happens.

This is climate change.

#cheninblanc #vouvray #climatechangeisreal #wineeducation

Dans Ma Bullle - a delightful sparkling Grolleau f

Dans Ma Bullle - a delightful sparkling Grolleau from Brittany.

Situated between Vannes & Theix this domaine has 5 hectares and is farmed organically by Loïc and his family. They call themselves api-vignerons (having bees and making honey too).

It’s a lovely fizz with a beautiful soft pink hue and spicy fruity notes on the palate.

The perfect apéro and a great discovery. I’m looking forward to tasting other wines from Brittany.

#brittanywines #grolleau #sparkling #bees

Did you know that if vines are not pruned, they wi

Did you know that if vines are not pruned, they will potentially produce many many bunches of grapes.

I took this picture in a Vouvray vineyard a couple of weeks ago. The parcel has been abandoned so the vines haven't been pruned.

We counted around 100 potential bunches of grapes on one vine!

But 100 bunches of grapes on one vine is not what we're looking for when it comes to making quality wine.

Restricting yield is the key and it's controlled by appellation legislation in France.

Asking a vine to fully ripen 100 bunches of grapes is a tall order. Asking it to ripen 12 to 15 bunches is another story.

In the Vin de France category there are no yield restrictions so inexpensive wine is often made from vines with much higher yields and adjustments can be made in the cellar to compensate.

There are also expensive wines sold in the Vin de France category. These wines are respecting the low yields that are required to make quality wine but the growers want the flexibility to be more experimental with grape variety, training methods or canopy management.

#cheninblanc #wineeducation #loirevalleywines

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