Les foires et les portes-ouvertes

Wine production is often discussed in terms of generations of growers within a family. If you take that idea and apply it in terms of families of wine producers working in the Loire Valley, that history can be traced back to the first century. It's a long story.

Bridge at Chinon

Just briefly, the majority of the Loire Valley wines are found along the Loire Valley from the muscadets around Nantes (Atlantic coast side) to the Sancerres and Pouilly-Fumés around Orléans  (North central France). In between are the regions of Anjou, Saumur, Bourgueil, Chinon and Vouvray.

Mid-April sees the start of the wine promotion season. Obviously leaflets and brochures can be found all year round and from a variety of sources.  But especially throughout April, May and June, wine producers in our area have their portes-ouvertes/open house, on their estates. There are also wine fairs. Chinon has its annual wine fair in April, Panzoult has theirs this week on 1 May, which is also a public holiday. The last weekend/beginning of June, there is a big wine fair in Tours which attracts about 150 producers from the Val de Loire. 

setting up in Place Hofheim

Our first porte-ouverte this year was over at François Médard on Easter Sunday. Our second was at Domaine de l'Épinay on Easter Monday. Last Saturday, 26 April, we went to Chinon's Wine Fair. Weatherwise it wasn't a promising start to the day. All quite gloomy and grey. But by mid-morning everything was up and running. With all the locals, visitors, officials, the gendarmes having a glass of something, and the terrific Swingles trio playing (two guitars and an accordeon) the whole thing came to life.

Getting the tastings ready

The wine fair is set up in Chinon's three squares, using very efficient canopies, each of which can take 4-8 wine producers. There's enough of an overhang to cover punters as well if the weather turns nasty. Each square is organised in clusters of wine producers. So Place Hofheim (photo) had wine producers from Cravant. Place Mirabeau had the Véron sector of producers coming from Beaumont en Véron, Savigny en Véron, Panzoult. Place Générale de Gaulle had two groupings one from Chinon and one from the other side of the river otherwise known as La Rive Gauche with producers from La Roche-Clermault, Ligré, Sazilly. There were about sixty wine producers in all. Admission is by wine glass, which are sold from various stands in each of the squares - really nice engraved wine glasses at €4 each. After you've bought your wine glass, then you just wander around having free tastings, not forgetting to carefully pace yourself.

Les Entonneurs

We bumped into various friends who introduced us to others, including the Chief of Police. Being on duty he was in full uniform. But he wasn't the only one.The Entonneurs Rabelaisiens were out in force, and very distinctive in their fur-trimmed red and gold uniforms.You see them at all the main events in Chinon such as the Marché Médiévale and the Marché à l'ancienne, which are both in August. Their role is to promote Chinon wine and the teachings of Rabelais. 

The Chinon Wine Fair runs from 10am to 6pm, but in the evening some of the restaurants continue the promotion of Chinon wines, with a select list to accompany dinner. We had in fact left around mid-day to go to our third porte-ouverte at Domaine de Neuil. It's on our route home and is one we've been to before. The domaine is on the site of an old 16th century manor, remains of which can still be seen.The photo heading up my blog is a shot of the manor tower. Looking at that photo, the roofline is actually designed in the shape of a large square, with all the buildings facing in on a courtyard. For the porte-ouverte, a large chapiteau had been erected in the courtyard and set-up for lunch. We had a tasting and then had lunch with friends Françoise and Jean-François. Great atmosphere. The red wines are lovely. 

Our fourth porte-ouverte was on Sunday 27 April, over at Crouzilles at Domaine de la Sablière,  This time we went with a group of neighbours. There were 10 of us in all. The weather was dire and certainly made things more difficult. This porte-ouverte was a two day affair (Sat&Sun) with marquees everywhere under which were a range of producers: cheeses, charcuterie, honey, out of region wines and Valierre création, who we know. She designs and makes bags and accessories. They are very pretty. We got there at 11.30am. Both days were fully reserved for lunch and for the two walks. One each morning which was around 15 kilometers and one each afternoon which was around 12 kilometers. Had a chat to Nicholas Pointeau, just after we arrived, who with his wife Marielle own and run the domaine. He'd finished around 8pm the previous evening, but with friends staying on, finally stopped at around 1am Sunday morning. So by the end of day two everyone must have been exhausted, as were we, when we got back home at 8pm. Plenty to look at and to do, followed by lunch and then around 3pm we went on the walk. The weather at least held off for that. We went right round Crouzilles taking in a farm, Domaine Coton, and some lovely countryside. The wide open landscape and a bit of sunshine meant we were able to see the neighbouring villages of Avon les Roches and Crissay sur Manse, both of which we know well and both of which are really interesting places to visit. 

A fab time. 'Boire du vin, c'est la France. Boire de l'eau, c'est la soufrance'.
Don't know who came up with this expression, but it pretty much sums up the weekend.