My Spring 2022 Visit to Anjou: The Heart of the Loire Valley
My first experiences with wines from the Loire Valley happened in the 1990’s when I fell in love with wines from Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, wines made from Sauvignon Blanc that really helped me set my bearings for that variety, my favorite white wine.
The Loire Valley is glorious. It’s traditionally where Parisian royalty retreated from Paris to their riverside castles for a quiet respite from the political pressures of Versailles to enjoy fine wines, superb goat cheeses, river fish, and a quiet, bucolic countryside, some of them in their country chateux.
The Loire River itself carves through almost two-thirds of
the center of France, flowing from the Massif Central mountain range in north-central
France to the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The Loire is the
longest river in France and for a very long period it was the main way that international
goods (and some really good French oysters) were delivered upstream to Paris
under the watchful eyes of nobility with their castles along the banks of the
river. 
Grapes are grown throughout the temperate valley. Some of the premiere grape growing regions are in the heart of France on the eastern third of the Loire Valley, like Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé, Borgeuil, Chinon, Quincy, and those areas were not part of this instant visit, except for a few tastes of Chinon.
The western, left end “Nantais” third of the valley facing the Atlantic is mostly devoted to crisp white wines made from the Melon de Bourgogne (It should probably be called Muscadet at this point) grape that makes zesty Muscadet wines that are brilliant with briny Atlantic Oysters or any other seafood.
The heart of the whole Loire valley, the middle third of it, is usually described as Anjou and Touraine, and it’s an area that I was honestly kind of excited to revisit, not because it necessarily the most sexy part of the valley, but because it is full of great values and really pure, unpretentious wines.
Maybe it’s not the most revered part of the valley, but once you start to pick it apart there are some really nice wines to be found in this central region of the Loire Valley. It’s complicated in terms of soils, climates, grape varieties (a lot of Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Gamay, and a couple of other more obscure grapes as well as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for the sparkling wines). This area encapsulates the regions of Vouvray (mostly white and sparkling wine), Saumur (red and white), Anjou (red, white and rosé) Savenièrres (Chenin Blanc whites), and is the main production area for Crémant de Loire, the general term for traditionally fermented in-the-bottle sparkling wines made in the Loire Valley.
The terrain of rolling hills is what I would describe as relatively unremarkable except for underlying soils, the magnificent castles, and the bucolic Loire river that runs through it. For wine nerds, the intricacies the soils are subtly varied and in some parts rather notable.
Soil types in Anjou range from metamorphic schist to limestone, chalk, and clay. Local growers often distinguish between black (schist), white (limestone) and red (clay-based) terroirs in vineyards.
There has been a dramatic shift toward organic farming in this region. A lot of producers are eager to ride the "natural" wine trend in Europe and the U.S. that finds American buyers paying premium prices for organically-grown wines made with a romantic backstory. I am all for organic wine growing, by the way. I just want the wine to taste good. I also saw a lot of wineries fermenting some batches of wine in clay amphora, which I personally think is a tremendously overwrought trend that is poorly understood by most of the practitioners, who often are not particularly knowledgeable about the porousness of the vessels, the oxygen ingress, flavoring, or any of the details that a serious winemaker should be aware of. But if you think that wines were better made a thousand years ago, wines made in terra cotta amphorae are definitely right up your alley.
Here’s how would I break down this visit:
My favorite surprises…
Saumur-Champigny Red Cabernet Franc wines from this region from were probably the best surprises on this visit to the Loire Valley. A lot of them were deep, focused, fresh, and delicious. Did they match the depth and complexity of the few extremely prestigious reds we tried from Chinon or Bogeuil? Maybe not quite, but they were in the ballpark, often cheaper, and maybe even a bit more straightforward and had a nice minerally quality. I was really impressed with this region, and will definitely go back for more.
Vouvray. This is very much a wine region in transition, but I think this area has always had great potential for Chenin Blanc. A couple of decades ago, Vouvray was mostly known for off-dry style Chenin Blanc white wines, many of which were REALLY good. Today the wines are mostly made in a dry style or are sparkling wines. I do like the dry versions of still, Chenin Blanc-based Vouvray that are coming out, but I have to confess that the Vouvray that I tasted that most stole my soul was a demi-sec (semi-dry) version from Huet, an indisputably excellent winery that also makes brilliant Muscadet.
Muscadet. This white wine made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape is racy, acidic, delicious, and it’s insanely good with with the salty oysters from the Atlantic coast of Nantais, which are SO much more briny than what we are used to on the cold Pacific U.S. coast. I think that everything every responsible wine writer has ever written about the pairing of Muscadet and these North Atlantic oysters still rings true and if you haven’t had Muscadet with Atlantic oysters, just quit screwing around and taste that magic synergy. Those briny gray blobs deserve to be washed down with chilled Muscadet.
Anjou Blanc. These are generally clean, fresh, dry Chenin
Blancs. Truly refreshing, straightforward, sometimes very minerally, sometimes slightly
rounder white wines depending on the underlying terroir, and I’m generally very pleased
with the Anjou Blanc that I tasted. I tasted a lot of wines, didn’t have many
bad ones, and found them really easy to drink and super food-friendly. This
hasn’t been a very popular wine region in the US, but I think these wines could
do some real damage as by-the-glass pours.
The Sparkling Wines Cremant de Bourgogne and Cremant d'Alsace seem to be doing pretty well in the U.S. these days, but I'm not sure that Cremant de Loire is keeping up in the sparkling wine category, and it may be because some are made from Chenin Blanc and some are made from Chardonnay and Pinot NOir. As much as Chenin Blanc is a completely flexible grape and the pride of the central Loire Valley, I think you can make a good argument that some of the best Crémant de Loire wines are made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, like those from Langlois-Chateau. There are some very nice value-priced producers of Chenin Blanc-based Sparkling wines from producers like Bouvet, though. I don't think they're quite on par with the best, but they're often cheaper and very well made.
Also Impressive:
Still in the mix…
Savenièrres. I still find this very small region a bit of a conundrum due to the diversity of the wine offerings, some very eccentric, made within a very small area. It is very much a Chenin Blanc-based region that has some wines made with a ton of skin contact and some with much less. It’s a region that doesn’t produce a ton of wine, and that has made it very trendy and precious, but I think quality and styles within Savenièrres are kind of all over the place and unless you’re after a specific producer you might want to taste before you buy.
Touraine. This region is for true Sauvignon Blanc lovers that don’t mind the grape’s grassy or vegetal flavors. The wines are affordable, very direct and unapologetic in style. They’re bright, a little green, and zesty. They aren’t all great, but I found some really good ones. Like this one: An absolute steal...
Val de Loire. Here’s a category of budget-priced wines that blend wines (generally white wines) from across the valley. They may be negociant wines as opposed to estate wines, but I thought my tasting of this category was pretty impressive! Mostly were truly decent Sauvignon Blancs with pretty good varietal character and very low prices.
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