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Slideshow
Loire Valley’s Vignes, Vins et Randos in pictures
Last weekend, db‘s Phoebe French headed to the Loire to take part in the 15th edition of Vignes, Vins et Randos (VVR), a walking tour through the vines, châteaux and towns in the region which is organised by Loire Valley Wines.
Image courtesy of Adrian Smith of the Winerist, @sypped.
VVR organises a number walks, cycle routes and even horseback rides in the different regions of Loire Valley, typically between 6 and 9 kilometres in length lasting around 3 hours. With 15 different walks available over the weekend, this year’s event attracted 10,000 participants.
Before we joined the VVR, we headed to Château Moncontour, built by Charles VII in the 15th century, and easily visible on the brow of the hill overlooking the Loire river. Bought by Christian Feray, a former surgeon turned turned vigneron, the estate has 130 hectares of vineyards in the surrounding region of Vouvay producing white, red and sparkling wines.
The estate bottles under the Château Moncontour label as well as those of its other vineyards including Château de Coudray Montpensier and Château Montfort. In the UK, its wines are imported by Liberty Wines while a selection are also stocked in Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.
Image courtesy of Adrian Smith of the Winerist, @sypped.
Château Moncontour also has its own wine museum featuring a collection of around 3,000 winemaking tools apparatus, including this old wine press outside the winery building.
From Vouvray, we travelled to Saumur for lunch at the VVR pop-up village among the vines of Bollinger’s Langlois-Chateau. In the distance is the outline of Château de Saumur.
Retour sur #vvr18 sur la rando Fines Bulles de Saumur… Sabrage avec une verre, pas mal ! pic.twitter.com/G9h4wgjQkW
— Armand Hervoil (@ArmandHervoil) September 2, 2018
Writer, TV presenter and head of partnerships at Winerist, Adrian Smith, impressed VVR volunteers with his sabrage skills, successfully removing the cork from a bottle of crémant using just a wine glass.
VVR participants were treated to freshly-made fouées – stuffed oven-baked flatbreads – with an option of fillings include pork and goose rillettes, garlic and parsley butter, goat’s cheese, and Nutella. Stomachs well and truly lined, we began the first VVR walk – Randos Saumur Brut Fines Bulles.
Image courtesy of Adrian Smith of the Winerist, @sypped.
Among the Châteaux we visited was Ackerman, a leading sparkling wine producer in the region and part of the wider Ackerman Group which owns 453 hectares throughout the Loire Valley.
Founded in 1811 by Jean-Baptiste Ackerman, it produces both sparkling Saumur Brut and Crémant de Loire and hosts a modern art exhibition in its limestone cellar.
Image courtesy of Adrian Smith of the Winerist, @sypped.
Partnering with Fontevraud Abbey, Ackerman has established an artist in residence programme, featuring the likes Julien Salaud’s 60 metre long, 5 metre high installation using 65,000 nails and 45 km of cotton thread in one of the cellar’s caves (above).
We couldn’t help being charmed by Bouvet-Ladubay’s old carriages, now housed in its winery. The second oldest sparkling wine producer in Saumur, it was founded in 1851 by Etienne Bouvet and his wife Celestine Ladubay. In 1932 the winery was purchased by Justin-Marcel Monmousseau and was later acquired by Champagne house Taittinger in 1974.
In 2005, after the Taittinger family sold a controlling stake of the business, Bouvet Ladubay was bought by Vijay Mallya, the fugitive former head of United Spirits. In 2015, the Monmousseau bought back the company, re-acquiring 100% of the shares in the business.
L-R: Adrian Smith, Kate Rowe, Phoebe French and Victoria Kukla. Image courtesy of Adrian Smith of the Winerist, @sypped.
The day finished with another stunning view of Château de Saumur in the distance.
En route to Chinon, we stopped at Château de Saumur, surrounded by vines, for the perfect picture opportunity. The Château dates back to the 10th century having originally been built as a castle. Overlooking the joining of the Loire and Thouet rivers, it’s easy to see why the site was chosen as a defensive position.
Next we travelled to Chinon, dominated by imposing and extensive Château de Chinon, a castle dating back to the 11th century. Overlooking the banks of the river Vienne, it provided an ideal backdrop of a boat trip and wine tasting.
Setting off from a mooring beneath the castle, we first travelled up stream.
While Chinon its renowned for its reds, a small percentage (roughly 5%) of its wines are white. Domaine de Noiré’s Chinon Blanc –100% Chenin Blanc – was a hit, with the variety’s characteristic high acidity mellowed by the subtle use of oak.
On Sunday, we took part in the Vignes, Vins, Randos Chinon, taking in the views of vines in neighbouring Ligré before returned for more fresh fouées in the VVR village.
Image courtesy of Adrian Smith of the Winerist, @sypped.
Our final stop was a newly-planted truffle plantation (complete with helipad) established by Baron de la Truffe founder Serge Desazars de Montghaillard, who has been cultivating black truffles since 1996. With around 40 hectares of organically-grown trees, he harvests black Périgord truffle using dogs and has recently launched his own book featuring recipes using the prized culinary ingredient. The region is a major truffle producer and holds a series of markets in the truffle season (November to January).