The Loire, France’s longest river, is the common thread among a network of France’s most individualistic wines. Sauvignon and Pinot Noir define Le Centre, where the wines smell and taste like the place: cool, austere, and pure. But in the Touraine, the chalky-white tuffeau rock gives Chenin a pungent mineral tang.
Elsewhere, Cabernet Franc is aging deep below the earth in vast caves, almost as if the vignerons of Bourgueil would prefer to keep it secret. Next, Anjou gives us cheerful rosé and a more serious Chenin. Finally we reach the coast, where the salty wines of Muscadet remind us of the sea.
The Loire River begins in the Massif Central, France’s central mountain range. As the Loire meanders north towards the city of Orléans, it cuts through the Kimmeridgian limestone that defines the wines of Chablis and the Aube district of Champagne. Here in the "Central Vineyards" of France, we find the pinnacle of Sauvignon Blanc in Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire, along with their satellites of Menetou-Salon, Quincy, and Reuilly. Small amounts of Pinot Noir can be found here as well, but it is Sauvignon grown on terres blanches (Kimmeridgian), caillottes (little stones), and silex (flint), that produces the central vineyards' most compelling wines.
The river turns west at Orléans and begins to make its way towards the Atlantic.
The Touraine offers the greatest diversity of wine styles and grape varieties of the entire Loire. The red wines of Cheverny are based on Gamay (with a variety of grapes allowed in its blend), while Sauvignon is the main white varietal. Cour-Cheverny is based on the odd Romorantin grape, while the Touraine appellation serves as a catch-all, and allows Chenin, Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Côt (Malbec), Cabernet, Pinot Noir, and Pinot d’Aunis. Vouvray and Montlouis-sur-Loire are Touraine's greatest white wine appellations where Chenin is grown on tuffeau and produced in every imaginable style from sec (dry) to moelleux (sweet) and still to pétillant (slightly sparkling) to mousseux (fully sparkling). Chinon, Bourgueil, and St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, all based on Cabernet Franc, produce the greatest red wines of the Loire.
The Loire's largest region is Anjou-Saumur and includes many sub-appellations. The string of top-quality Cabernet Franc vineyards continues into Saumur-Champigny where the red wines are particularly floral and elegant. Wines labeled simply Saumur may be still and red (based on Cabernet) or white (based on Chenin) but more than half of Saumur wines are sparkling. Anjou is a catch all appellation for the region producing dry and still reds and whites from Cabernet and Chenin respectively. But it is the slightly off-dry Anjou Rosé (based on Grolleau) that consumers encounter most often. Chenin is produced in a lusciously sweet style in Coteaux-du-Layon and Coteaux de l'Aubance and its sweet apex in the crus of Quarts de Chaume, and Bonnezeaux. These sweet Chenins are the result of passerillage (late harvest) or pourriture noble (botrytis). Perhaps most importantly is the dry and powerful Savennières and its two crus: Roche-aux-Moines and Coulée-de-Serrant. Here, it is argued, dry Chenin can rival Montrachet and Corton-Charlemagne.
The Loire finally end its journey in the region of Nantes before it empties into the Atlantic. This coastal region features granite and gneiss soils on which the neutral-tasting Melon de Bourgogne produces bone dry, lemony, almost briny white wines that seem to pair magically well with the famous oysters of the region. The appellation of Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine produces the most intense and salty Melon wines of all, where they are frequently bottled directly off the fine lees for added richness.
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