Big Heat Hits Loire. Two wine visits

Day 19

Big Heat Hits Loire. Two wine visits

Teach 'em young!

Super September continued in the Loire Valley with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees and boosting the hopes of wine producers such as Sebastien at Chateau Du Petit Thouars for a super harvest next month.  Rain, forecast for the weekend, will also be a help. Big juicy grapes!

We called back there after a couple of weeks to catch up with the news. Sebastien had been in Sligo for a wedding and his and Darcy’s daughter Elizabeth had taken her first steps and gave us a little demonstration. Great to meet up again with the trio and purchase some more of their fabulous wines, all destined for a trip to Ireland at the weekend.

Chateau du Petit Thouars

Back then to the gite and saw that the thermometer on the wall in the courtyard was getting up towards fifty – this is quite a sun trap as the general temperature is about thirty. Nothing for it but to tog out and take the few steps to the pool and soon we were cooling down.

Over a light lunch, we found we were a little short of Chinon wine, of all things. So we headed off to the riverside cave of Mon Plaisir, another one of those cellars built into the tufa, “free” cellars again, but very impressive even if many of the casks and barrels were covered in a fungus! Skipped the white and roses and went for the reds in the tasting and came away with some 2008 and 2009. 

Cave Mon Plaisir

Happy out but not so happy when we turned up at the opposite river bank for an expected boat trip up the river (Vienne). For the second time, we were disappointed as we were the only two that showed up. The boatman said he had twenty the day before.

Mould on bottles of Chinon 1979

So back to the car and up the river to Montsoreau, just where the Vienne and the Loire meet. Quite a lot of activity on the wide waters and we enjoyed a pleasant spell there.

Fun on the river

Amazing how many restaurants around here stay closed on Wednesdays and that was one of the factors, the heat another, in our eating at the gite this evening. On the way back from Montsoreau, we raided the traiteur and loaded up with pate, salads, main courses and a vegetable gratin. Over across the little square then to the baker and a nice little boule (it doesn’t always have to be baguette – there is a huge range here) and a couple of their winemaker tartlets!

Loire speedsters

Should be a lovely evening as the temperatures are still way up! A demain.

Winemaker's Rartlet - this evening's dessert from the baker.

Lovely welcome and wines at 17th century Chateau du Petit Thouars

Day 4

Lovely welcome and wines at 17^th century  Chateau du Petit Thouars

In the vineyard today with Sebastien du Petit Thoaurs

 Built at the same time as Cardinal Richelieu was building his nearby model town, the 17^th century Chateau de Petit Thouars  was our destination today. We were warmly welcomed by Sebastien and Darcy and started with a walk through the vineyard, planted in 1975, and which escaped the early summer hailstones that caused havoc in other parts of the Loire this year.

Cabernet Franc is the grape here for reds, roses and a Cremant de Loire which I’m now sipping as I type. But this year, for the first time, Sebastien will harvest Chenin Blanc and he is really looking forward to the results of that.

Cabernet Franc

 In from the sun then to the cool of the cellars, mainly caves excavated in higgledy piggledy fashion but since adapted to the use of the wine-maker with a temperature almost always at an ideal 12 degrees.

Since its rebirth in 1975, the vineyard has grown to a 15 hectares (30 acres) estate. The winemaker is Michel Pinard, who built his well-deserved reputation working for more than ten years with the famous Chinon winemaker Charles Joguet. 

The Chateau's top wine

 The subsequent tasting left us in no doubt that superb wines, from the 2009 Selection to the Amiral (24 months in oak, including one change of barrel) of the same year, are being made here. No wonder they are winning awards and are being sold both in the France and Belgium and in England and the US, and China is on the horizon as well. How about Ireland?

Sipping this lovely sparkler right now.

Superb example of Cabernet Franc

Earlier we had visited the nearby Château in Montsoreau.  The remains of the 15^th century building, the setting for an Alexandre Dumas novel of murder most foul (Le Dame du Mortsoreau), provides a terrific view over the coming together of the Loire and the Vienne rivers and over the village itself, designated a village fleuri.

Boat on the Loire at Montsoreau

Meeting of the waters: the Vienne (right) is taken over by the Loire.

Château in Montsoreau

Earlier we had visited the nearby Château in Montsoreau.  The remains of the 15^th century building, the setting for an Alexandre Dumas novel of murder most foul (Le Dame du Mortsoreau) provides a terrific view over the coming together of the Loire and the Vienne rivers and over the village itself, designated a village fleuri.

Enjoying the pool in the evening sun.

Today also we sorted out one of the priorities of holidaying in France, this to find a good traiteur. These shops can give you a taste of France at a much cheaper rate than restaurants. We found one here in Chinon (it was closed yesterday). From the Aux Delices du Terroir, on rue Marceau, we bought some rabbit in a Basque sauce which just needs a little reheating in the microwave. Looking forward to that now, with a glass of Sebastian’s Selection 2009!