My wife and I and another couple are looking to celebrate our friend’s 40th birthday with a trip to the Loire valley next April. We were thinking of flying into Paris to stay for a couple of nights, and then spending 4 days in wine country. What is it like in France? Are all winery visits by appointment only? How should I go about planning a trip? I’ve only visited California wineries by driving myself - is this realistic in France? Our friend speaks passable French so I’m more wanting to know about how to plan our itinerary. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Bryan sounds like it will be a great trip, and I’m sure you’ll get some great feedback from folks here. You may want to check out the search function as well, as there have been multiple threads over the last couple years on this topic.
It’s always a good idea to make an appointment. If you are looking to visit small vignerons it is good to understand that many do not have a dedicated tasting room nor separate people for receiving visitors. In other words without an appointment the winemaker is likely outside in the vineyards when you come knocking on the door.
Also you should not try to pack too many visits into one day. If you hit it off with a winemaker you can spend several hours tasting barrel samples and old vintages.
Agree you should plan in advance. Agree not to pack in too many. One in the afternoon and one in the morning and if you have time driving from one to the other you could stop by one of the wineries you see which has signage on the road and thus more likely to accept drop ins (but no guarantee).
Driving is fine but do not speed. They have electronic speed monitoring stations.
Renting a car is fine. Gas stations are not as abundant but they exist and are more thoughtfully planned on the main motorroutes.
Keep in mind visiting the Loire is more akin to visiting the North Coast than visiting Napa Valley, it is a broad region.
I was there last April.
Make time to see a castle.
The interests of your group may differ from mine but I would choose more time in Loire than Paris. But I am more of s country person than a city person and have been to Paris before.
If you are like that, consider going to the Loire first with Paris afterward, in case you end up wanting more time in the Loire.
Ok first off, see my signature. I love Loire and its wines. That said, personally I would spend more time seeing the amazing, and historic, royal castles, chateaux and manors. I’m not sure there is any other country, or any other place, that has such a collection of architectural masterpieces of historic significance. This is where the royals of Paris summered to avoid city plague and illness that were heavy during the hot time of the year. Yea, make some winery reservations - Baudry in particular - but I’d recommend you focus on the castles and Chateaux.
Chinon - The medieval castle of the Plantegents
Amboise - Home of da Vinci
Chambord - Royal castle with amazing helical staircase designed by da Vinci
Angers
Azay-le-Rideau
And so many others.
If you have a healthy budget, consider staying at a Relais y Chateau. They have a network of Chateaux and manor homes that are luxury Inns, some with very fine restaurants and wine cellars. I learned about the wines of Chinon at Chateau de Noizay, a barony from the 1500s. They even have the Baron’s original suit of armor on the staircase. The Somm made winery reservations for us.
All good advice - I agree about visiting châteaux if you have never been there before. As to visiting wineries, it is always better to book - where depends on which wines you like, but one address is quite useful - La Cave Insolite at Montlouis, which is a shop owned by the Chidaines and run by Manuela Chidaine:
They do tastings of Chidaine wines, but you normally find other bottles from other producers opened for tasting too and she is a good guide to the best producers, as well as selling their wines.
It’s a short drive along the river from Amboise, so you could pop in after visiting the château at Amboise.
My husband and I visited the Loire in September. I made appointments beforehand by email with the domaines we wanted to visit.
We had very nice and extensive tastings at the following: in Sancerre and Pouilly Fume- Domaine du Carrou, Domaine Lucien Crochet, Domaine Michele Redde, Joseph Mellot, Chateau du Tracy, and Famille Bourgeois. We were going to visit Didier Dagueneau, but they had to cancel because of the harvest. We also visited Alphonse Mellot tasting room and Vacheron in Sancerre without appointments.m
In Vouvray, we visited Domaine Huet, and stopped at Cave Insolite across the river.
In Savennieres, we visited Domaine du Closel. We wanted to visit Nicholas Joly (who doesn’t require an appointment during posted times), but ran out of time.
For us, our favorite chateaux were Chenonceau, Villandy for its gardens and Domaine de Chaumont sur Loire for its gardens.
Tons of great notes, thank you everyone! I would like to try to strike a balance between seeing the sights, enjoying myself and discovering new wines for sure.
Absolutely agree with all of the above. We fell into a nice routine, Chateau in the mornings, wineries in the afternoon. Keep in mind the driving distances are much greater than in a place like Burgundy. It will take awhile to get where you are going. For a nice little restaurant, there is a local place in Vouvray we ate at about a decade ago. It really is a local place as there were few tourists there and it was reasonably priced food. It is fairly easy to find as there is not much else in Vouvray. Think it is called Le Val Joli. Has mixed reviews, but hard to know about the reliability of the reviewers? Love it or hate it kind of place I suppose.
Made home base in the Chateau Jallanges, it is also very reasonably priced and a bit off the beaten path. You will feel like you are a local checking on your summer home. Quite historic but not overbuffed and hyped like a lot of more touristy locations. They do a huge daily breakfast in a lovely dining room. It is essentially a family home that is on a farm, albeit one from the 15th century…
Bookmarking for my own spring trip with friends. Know about all the other Chateaux but not about D’Usse–that looks like a must-stop. Missed the Jardins at Villandry when I was last there–and that was 35 years ago or so. Loved the others–Amboise, Azay, Chenonceau, Chambord, Chinon–all lovely.
d’Usse is definitely a must-see. When I went, and it’s been some years, it was still family owned and they lived in a part of the Chateaux.
Funny side note, my wife and I were riding around the countryside looking for Azay Le Ridue, when we see a lovely, large chateau with huge gardens, a meandering lake with a bridge over the moat the Chateau. We drive up, and were like wow, nobody here. Got out, starting walking around, and an older distinguished gentleman came out to “greet” us with his two Great Danes. And nicely told us, “no tours”. I’m assuming that had happened before. Must be nice to be born into royalty, unlike the Poseur in that faux avatar.
We were at Amboise and Chenonceau a little over a year ago. They were spectacular. But, why is it one or the other between castles and wineries. How about one day or one and one day of another - or castles in the morning and wineries in the afternoon.
Was in Touraine in April, based in Amboise. visits to Huet & Pinon in Vouvray were outstanding. Huet has extensive caves and a rich history. As a contrast Pinon was charming, small and has some of my favorite wines in the area. Make appts at both. As mentioned, Cave Insolite is the tasting room for Chidaine. No apt needed and the wines are great. They are also a shop for other producers in the area.
We ate at Le Val Joli as it came up on Raison (an app you should use for natural wines & restaurants). Unfortunately, it was a let down and I canot recommend it. I suggest going to Les Gueules Noires, a troglodyte restaurant recommended by Julien Pinon.
We rented bikes in Amboise one day, packed a lunch and rode to Chenonceau. It was a lovely ride but took most of the day.
