By richard harvey
As a child of English parents, I have a conflicted relationship with the country of France. Leaving aside all other considerations of my long-standing general love-hate relationship with this beautifully complex country and its equally complex people, there are many historical issues of small things like the Battle of Hastings and The Hundred Years' War that trouble the Anglo-French dynamic.
The complicated crossover of claimants to be King of both England and France after the former “invasion" and the marathon, slow-motion bloodletting of the latter (not mentioning many strategic marriages) is intrinsic to the history of both England and France. No place in France carries the scars of this dispute more eloquently than the Loire Valley. An hour’s train ride south of Paris, this beautiful region is rotten with ruins and traces of The Hundred Years' War. But on one occasion many years ago, a winery owner (knowing my heritage) invited me to await our appointment in the Cimetière des Anglais (the Englishman’s Cemetery) located on his property… I confess to finding a bit of ancient animosity in his suggestion.
But I have overcome such early slights, and have long advocated for people to explore France’s Loire Valley—especially if your travelling companions are not enamoured of the thought of visiting “wine country". This unsatisfying and incomplete term conjures up a single and monotonous visit that is nothing BUT winery after winery with no context for the surrounding culture that has shaped this beverage into the unique expression of its place of origin. Why not go somewhere where wine is just a beautiful slice of what the region has to offer?
You can get tricky with the Loire! Are your companions fans of history, art, architecture, good food, gardens, nature? If any of these things intrigue them, they won’t even notice when you mention wine…
If I was to make a comment such as the Loire is “sitting pretty", it is rife with meaning, starting with the most fundamental observation of the paysage, with its fabulously gentle and genteel rolling hills, river courses and orchards. No monoculture here—fields of grains, sunflowers, asparagus and all manner of vegetables are interspersed with a layer cake of orchards bursting with pears, peaches, plums…
And guess what? This gateau has many layers! Seemingly every other village is home to a proper château, some world famous, others more discreet but no less charming, many cropping up around a bend in the road with head-turning regularity. The icing on this cake are the carefully sprinkled vineyards which rarely dominate the landscape.
Want to visit a place where Joan of Arc passed through? Battle-sites of The Hundred Years' War? See Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop in the town of Amboise? The tomb of Richard the Lionheart, the house of Honoré de Balzac or François Rabelais? Chateaux that sit in lakes, cross rivers or the "hunting lodge" of Chambord with its 440 rooms? All of a sudden, you can play the card of a stop at a wine estate while your companion searches for the Loire château that was the model for Disney’s plaster pastiche… sometimes the château might have its own wine!
So much of the Loire vignoble is just one part of the countryside, with hedges and forests giving great biodiversity as well as lovely scenery. Other vineyard areas of the world, due to massive demand for their wines, have become monocultures which only now seem to realize that this is an unhealthy practice. All those flowers and fruit trees need healthy pollinator populations to exist, and the copses of trees, the flowering hedges and other vegetation are home to all the bees, moths, flies and butterflies that fulfill the essential work of pollination. Not to mention all of the birds and other critters that give the area so much life and beauty.
What kind of wine do you like? It’s a shame that the Loire region only offers dry whites, semi-sweet whites, gorgeous lush whites, sparkling, pétillant (white & rosé), dry rosé, sweet rosé and, oh yes, a plethora of fascinating reds. The only caveat to the latter is that no Loire reds are bombastic, bodacious or full-bodied. They, like the region, are elegant, aromatic, lighter-bodied and beautiful. The Cabernet Franc grape (as expressed in the Loire Valley) generally has the weight of Pinot Noir but with unmistakable Cabernet flavours. After all, Cabernet Franc was simply a parent of Cabernet Sauvignon…no good reason why it should make excellent wines, right?
If you want familiar grapes, the Loire is the source of and inspiration for Sauvignon Blanc. This region inspired the New Zealanders to stake their claim in the global wine world by single-mindedly devoting themselves to this grape. But expect many different interpretations of Sauvignon Blanc in the Loire; from grassy and minty to floral to stony and lean.
Want something different? The westernmost region of the Loire, the Pays Nantais, specializes in a local grape called Melon. Perhaps this wine (the grape and the wine are also known as Muscadet) only suffers from confusion. No melons are used to make this wine, AND the common confusion of Muscadet and Muscat needs to be eradicated once and for all!
The Muscat grape family makes highly perfumed and mainly sweet white wines, whereas the Melon/Muscadet grape in the Loire makes stony, bone-dry, non-fruity wines that are crisp and spine-tingly. Muscadet wines are fine partners to fresh shellfish and a thirsty mouth. You will not find a more stimulating aperitif wine!
Other grapes? Yes! The ubiquitous Chardonnay is found mainly in a zippy, un-oaked, Chablis-like style; the Gamay grape shows up; as does Malbec and Pinot Noir. There are also original Loire grapes such as Romorantin, Pineau d’Aunis and Grolleau. Variety is not lacking!
The jewel in the crown of Loire white grape varieties is certainly Chenin Blanc. This noble grape shares many of the attributes of the revered Rieslings of Germany. It’s capable of making amazing dry wines, as well as off-dry and sweet, but as with Riesling, always with a solid core of acidity that gives them bright freshness when young and an amazing capacity to age.
Our range of Loire wine continues to grow and one of the many reasons is that this modest region makes wines of great character at accessible prices. Because the Loire Valley is also referred to as Le Jardin de la France, here's a focus on three Loire wines for your summer sips, hopefully surrounded by nature or at least in the presence of a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers in your living room.
2025 Philippe Guerin Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Abstraction #1" $26
You don’t know it yet, but you WANT this wine. You NEED it! You LUST for it! Do you have a thirst? Raise a glass to Philippe who retired after 44 harvests and who reckons that this 2025 vintage was in his top three. Bone dry and as subtly pleasurable as a chilled slice of green melon on a sweltering day, this is enchantingly easy to guzzle...
2025 Moulin Camus Sauvignon Blanc $26
Fresh and fine, this captures the green leafiness of summer and the mere thought of it should make your mouth water! This is Loire Sauvignon Blanc at its most frisky, tonic and fun. No oak, and with more minty and citrus flavours than the tropical fruit salad often found in New Zealand SBs. To quote the immortal words of Fatboy Slim: "if this don’t make your booty move, your booty must be dead!"
2023 Vincent Carême Vouvray Sec “Le Peu Morier” $46
Ooh, a bit more serious pleasure here, but not pleasure denied! The deeply meditative, passionate and hard-working Vincent Carême makes exquisite Vouvray. This is just coming into a nice zone where honeycomb and grain flavours are rolled up with a dollop of soft pear fruit. Vouvray of quality like this has the potential to continue gaining in complexity with age (not that one can always be patient). A wine that is already a classic of Loire Chenin Blanc to tickle your fancy, starting right now!
