Vignes, Vins et Randos!!

This way!

Every year on the first weekend in September, organised walks of between 7 - 9 kilometres take place in different areas of the Val de Loire. This year there were fourteen available, split between the two days of the weekend, which for 2012 happened to fall on September 1- Saturday, with 8 walks and September 2 - Sunday which had 6 - for whatever reason.   http://www.vignesvinsrandos.fr/randonnees.php - the website for the organisers - has a map showing the sites of all the different walks and other bits of information. It is in French though. Cravant falls within the Chinon district. Although it's Chinon that is marked on the site map, it was actually our village that was representing the district, and for the second year running. Usually walkers visit somewhere outside their own area, but for us it provided the ideal opportunity to get to know Cravant a bit better. So both years we've stayed within our own 'borders'. The amount of organisation that the weekend demands is considerable. Large numbers of volunteers and lots of local co-operation are required, without which it would be impossible. Anyway. . . there is an admission charge for doing a walk. If reserve your place in advance online, the entry is reduced from Euros 5 to Euros 3. You can do a walk on both days for E6. We would have done two if we hadn't already had commitments on the Sunday, so we signed up for the one walk in Cravant, on the Saturday. Weatherwise/temperature - it was perfect.

Some of our walking partners

The walk in Cravant begins at the football ground. There are large marquees and stands already erected. At this point they serve as the reception area. Everyone gets their names ticked off on the advance list. Others can and do turn up on the day. Car parking is in the field opposite the football ground. All of you receive as part of your admission a simple styled, but efficient light-weight cotton back pack ( with logo see above photo) containing a map, an apple, pencil and a wine glass with neck holster. You see the Val de Loire walking weekend isn't just about admiring the countryside. It is also about wine tasting and apéro eating along the way. Last year, 800 people came to Cravant. This year there were over a 1000, divided into twelve groups, each with a guide at the front and the back.  The differences between last year and this, was that we went on our own and were the only ones from the village, except for the guides. This year we'd been invited to go with some neighbours, which was lovely.  We were in the first group of walkers, with a staggered lead-off between each of the groups of about fifteen minutes. So you're walking at a reasonable place to avoid bottlenecks.

Chateau de Sonnay

Walk 2012: from the football ground we headed off along a track past vines and turned right so that Cravant's 'big house', Chateau de Sonnay was directly ahead of us. It's not usually open to the public and wasn't last year for the walk. We stopped  for a brief lecture about the history of the house, given by the owner, then headed off for our first wine tasting/'pit-stop 1' at the L'R vineyard owned by Frederic Sigonneau. www.domainedelr.com He worked in Spain for some time and has developed a gorgeous range of wines. A one-man band who has  a completely different style from the usual Cravant wine. He was joined by wine producer Mathieu Baudry who has now taken over from his father Bernard Baudry, to run their estate. They are long established and are one of the most respected local producers and appear within the top 100 in the world. www.chinon.com/vignoble/bernard-baudry

Cravant View

After walking along some uphill forest trails we dropped down into a valley for 'pit-stop 2' with another two neighbouring wine producers Sébastian Jaulin whose estate we were on and who was hosting Bruno Sourdais and his wines.
www.sergeetbrunosourdais.com We've bought from Bruno Sourdais a couple times. Very good wine. He is part of the big Sourdais family all of whom have individual estates around Cravant. The surprise for us here were the wines of Sébastian Jaulin. We'd never heard of him. The silly thing is we've driven past him so many times on our way to visit another wine producer.  No website for Sébastian Jaulin. He's a producer you need to phone to arrange a visit. His wine we tasted, a  2011, was just stunning. The walk then took us along a section of road we know quite well, past vines (photo Cravant view) crossing over to another trail eventually to walk by field after field of sunflowers and of course vines.

Happy walkers: Mike and Bernadette

Now we were right in the middle of Cravant countryside. 'Pit-stop 3' was organised differently and involved two wine producers delivering their wine tastings and apéros to us at a selected point, accompanied by musical entertainment. A classic French scene of vans, vines, musicians,various trellis tables on which the apéros been laid out, and the wine producers who were busy filling our tasting glasses. Jean-Louis Loup, www.domainedebelair.fr lovely guy and family who we've met and bought from several times. Terrific wine. The other wine producer was again new to us and was excellent. www.aubert-monory-vindechinon.com
The final leg of our walk took us further down from the Cravant football ground, where we all started, so that eventually we would have to turn left to take us back to the finish. More vines and sunflowers along the way, before arriving at 'pit-stop 4', (another specially delivered tasting, like no 3), where this time we had two wine producers, both of whom we'd heard of, but whose wines we'd never tried. Patrice Moreau, who I haven't found a website for and  Fabrice Gasnier www.domainefabricegasnier.com Both had excellent wines. It's typical of Cravant that all the wine producers offer excellent wine - but that's for another blog.

Later that evening

We'd started the walk at 3pm and we finished on time at 6pm back at the football ground. Now the next part of event was to begin: La Guinguette - an open air dance. All the marquees on one side were transformed into cooking areas and drinks buying areas, including wines that we'd tasted. The other line of marquees had become a big seated area for diners divided in two, by a large wooden dance floor which had been specially laid down, with disco and lights. The final group of walkers arrived at 7pm. Then the evening took off. A three course dinner for Euros 10, with choices of three main dishes, cheese and dessert.  We were with our neighbours, but everyone just mixed up on long tables, all talking and laughing together. Walking gear suddenly became the trend for clubbing. Loads of people were up and dancing. Brilliant atmosphere. At around 10.30pm, the fireworks were announced as 'starting shortly'. So the marquees emptied and all 1000 of us ( or whoever many there were, as other locals just turned up for the guinguette), lined the football pitch and watch a superb display until around 11pm. Then gradually the crowd began to disperse and we set off home. It was an amazing day. Extremely well organised in every aspect. Total pleasure. Bravo Cravant!! Five stars.

PS. Have just discovered that the event attracted over 8000 over the two days!
PPS. The official figures are that there were 1100 walkers in Cravant for 2012.