Wine Blog – A supper evening

At Manoir de Gourin our Monday supper evenings are eagerly anticipated by our guests each week and yesterday was no exception with three couples joining us for an evening of fun and enjoyment with some delicious home cooked food from Karin and a great selection of local wines. Brenda and Dermot, Tanya and Scott, and [...]

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Wine Blog – Chateau de Chaintres vintage 2011

A swift visit to Chateau de Chaintres today to pick up our display board for the introduction talk as I left it behind after our three ladies wine tour on Monday. We have a tour booked on Tuesday next. Richard Desouche filled me in on the current vintages. So the 2011 'Domaine' has been quietly [...]

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Wine Blog – Our wine tour on Monday

Three lovely ladies descended upon Saumur by train to partake on one of our day wine tours and did they look apprehensive when I met them at the station but wow how it turned out to be a wonderful day and to boot they bought the sunshine with them so we were able to picnic [...]

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Wine Blog – Touring

We have two guests touring tomorrow from Norway with a friend from Paris. We are off to tour Saumur Champigny country to our favourite estate Chateau de Chaintres in the morning followed by a picnic overlooking the vineyards with the winemaker Richard Desouche. We'll start with an introduction talk I will give in the reception [...]

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Wine Blog – Open Day

Our visit on Sunday last to Domaine de L'Enchantoir allowed us to taste the current vintages.

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Wine Blog – Open Doors

Tomorrow is an important day for Domaine de L'Enchantoir in Saumur country Loire valley France with the annual open day for the publlic to visit and try the wines. We are going along with a load of friends Peter and Maggie, Sally and John, Roy and Liz, Francoise, Inger and Colin. The weather is awful at [...]

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Wine Blog – Mildew

The season for mildew will be starting soon and the two types Downy and Powdery are treated with two separate chemicals. Downy is treated with Copper  traditionally by the Bordeaux mixture or bouillie bordelaise which contains Lime, Copper sulphate and water. Powdery called Oidium Tuckerii after a Mr Tucker who first found it in Margate, England is [...]

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Wine Blog – Wine tours

This year we continue our very popular fully escorted residential wine tours from Manoir de Gourin in th Loire Valley, France. If you are interested please log onto our website www.loirewinetours.com to see the range of tours we offer to guests from all over the world. Last year we had Canadian, Americans, New Zealanders, Australians, Zambians, Irish and [...]

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Wine Blog – Old sayings

We had a day out today and tried a new restaurant in Saumur. Le Pot de Lapin run by Oliver who is very helpful and friendly. Enjoyed the meal and a good pot of Saumur Champigny if a litle fresh. It needed another year in the vat to develop the tannins. Thereafter it was over to [...]

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Wine Blog – Duty increases

The budget brought further duty levy on wine and now we pay £1.90 for a 75cl bottle of still wine and £2.43 for a bottle of bubbly. And do not forget that VAT is added to the total price so the £1.90  becames £2.28 and the £2.43 becomes £2.92. So thats before we even look [...]

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