LOIRE VALLEY WINE

A 'Loire Valley wine' is any wine produced in the Loire Valley region of France. The region produces significant quantities of wine under various AOC designations, officially the '''Vignoble du Val-de-Loire'''. The region produces the second largest amount of Vin de Pays wine of any region in France under the designation '''Vin de Pays du Jardin de France''' and other more specific designations. In total the region produces approximately 2.8 million hectoliters (740 million gallons) of wine annually from 50,433 hectares (124,618 acres) of vineyards under cultivation.[1]
Some of the better known AOC wines from this region include the four Muscadet appellations, Pouilly-Fumé, Sancerre, and Vouvray. White wines from Savennières in the region are less well known outside of France but also highly regarded by wine critics. Although the majority of wine produced in the region is white wine, the red wines of Chinon are relatively well-regarded. There are 63 total AOC designations in the region.[2]
The principal grape varieties used for Loire Valley white wines include Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne, with the addition of Chardonnay in the region's sparkling wines. More rarely used white wine grapes in the region include Grolleau gris, Folle Blanche and Pinot blanc et Arbois. The principal red grade variety of the region is Cabernet Franc, although small amounts of Côt (Malbec), Gamay, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis and Abouriou are also grown.
The Loire Valley is France's largest producer of sparkling wines outside of the Champagne region. The majority of these ''Crémant du Loire'' wines are produced around the city of Saumur and are typically a blend of the Chardonnay, Chenin blanc and Cabernet franc. AOC laws do allow cuvees with other grapes, including Sauvignon blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot noir, Gamay, Côt, Pineau d'aunis and Grolleau but those grapes are rarely used in a significant amount. ^[1]

Contents

Vin de Pays

References

External links

Vin de Pays

In addition to the overall designation ''Vin de Pays du Jardin de France'', the 13 ''départements'' that make up the Loire Valley region are each entitled to produce Vin de Pays wines under their own label, and collectively produce approximately 600,000 hectolitres (159 million gallons) of Vin de Pays wines annually.[3] These include:

★ Vin de Pays de l’Allier

★ Vin de Pays du Cher

★ Vin de Pays des Deux-Sèvres

★ Vin de Pays de l’Indre

★ Vin de Pays d’Indre-et-Loire

★ Vin de Pays de Loire-Atlantique

★ Vin de Pays du Loiret

★ Vin de Pays du Loir et Cher

★ Vin de Pays du Maine et Loire

★ Vin de Pays de la Nièvre

★ Vin de Pays de la Sarthe

★ Vin de Pays de Vendée

★ Vin de pays de la Vienne
A few Vin de Pays wines named after a specified local area of production are also made in the Loire Valley:

★ Vin de Pays du Bourbonnais

★ Vin de Pays des Coteaux Charitois

★ Vin de Pays des Coteaux du Cher et de l’Arnon

★ Vin de Pays des Coteaux de Tannay

References

1. K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' pg 267 Workman Publishing 2001 ISBN 1563054345

External links

★ Official Web site

★ Vins de Pays of the region