Loire Wine Tours

Lets hope not. I think they would not be the right sort of organisation to sell wine. It needs a personal touch and an ability to be able to get to know about the wine you buy. Its like supermarkets. I read in this article in the paper that supermarkets currently have an 83% share […]

Well we are back in Uk after a rather elongated and difficult journey from the Loire valley in France. It usuallly takes around six hours with a couple of comfort breaks normally at Rouen and at the lovely Baie de la Somme Aire. We arrived in plenty of time at Calais and popped into the […]

Domaine de L'Enchantoir faired badly with the 2012 vintage, BUT and its a big but Pierre was clever with his decisions. Firstly he decided to sell his white grapes of Chardonnay and Chenin blanc to the local sparkling wine house Ackerman now owned by Cave de Saumur the local co-operative. Clever because he got a […]

As I said yesterday the Chateau de Chaintres Saumur Champigny reds had yields 50% less than the normal levels. The Saumur Chenin appellation faired in the same way with a normal yield of 20-25hl/ha and a yield this year of 10-12 hl/ha. The chenin is somewhat more susceptable to rot and for only prime berries the chateau […]

Chateau de Chaintres reports a 50% reduced yield from the normal level of 45hl/ha on its Saumur Champigny cabernet franc for the domaine, chateau and des oratorien cuveés. The reasons are as I set out on the two previous blog pages. The vendange started on 15 Ocotober and finished on the 20th October. It was […]

Our winemaker and his wife Pierre and Brigitte van den Boom from Domaine de L'Enchantoir I talked yesterday on the blog about the conditions in the Loire valley, France during the season from the winter months in the new year to the harvest in October that dictated how the 2012 vintage would develop from berry to […]

Simon with Richard Desouches our man at Chateau de Chaintres So here is my first report on the 2012 vintage from a Saumur Champigny appellation. Chateau de Chaintres. We tasted with the wine maker and estate director Richard Desouche. So first we need to examine what went on during the season to have an understanding of […]

Last night we ventured into Le Puy Notre Dame, Loire valley, France for supper at Bouchon Ponot our local restaurant www.restaurant-bouchon-ponot.fr. We enjoy the food and our guests who stay with us at Manoir de Gourin www.manoirdegourin.co.uk also visit the restaurant regularly as well. They do some good french cuisine. Our guests often go regularly […]

I have now arrived in the Loire valley to taste the 2012 vintage and we will start either at Domaine de L'Enchantoir or Chateau de Chaintres. This year the harvest was much smaller in yield and without a good summer and difficult spring the crop has been smaller and the berries aloso much smaller. It […]