Touraine
Chenin Blanc & Cabernet Franc
The Touraine, home of Vouvray, Montlouis and the great red Loire wines — Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saint-Nicolas de-Bourgueil — Broadly occupies the départements of Indre-et-Loire and Loir-et-Cher with the city of Tours as its geographical focus. Above all the Touraine is a countryside of rivers, for the land is divided by the great tributaries of the Loire such as the Vienne, the Indre, and the Cher. Along the banks of these fine waters lie the vineyards of the Touraine. To the west on the borders of Anjou and Saumur are the great red wine areas: Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saint nicolas de-Bourgueil; in the center the great white wine areas: Vouvray, and Montlouis, to the southeast are the vineyards that produce the often excellent Sauvignon and Gamay de Touraine. Though the Touraine appears larger than the Anjou and Muscadet, in terms of surface area for wine production it is smaller than either.
Vouvray
Vouvray is the leading white wine of the Touraine and the largest of its major appellations. The village of Vouvray lies ten kilometers to the east of the city of Tours. The vineyards are on a plateau above and behind the village, to the north of the Loire. The soil is largely siliceous clay or calcareous clay, the best terrains are known as perruches and have large amounts of flint particularly at the surface. The second best sites or aubuis are purer limestone. The remaining vineyards with inferior aspect or less favored soils containing more sand and gravel produce the wines destined to become petillant or mousseux. Vouvray is an appellation with many lieux-dits but unlike Sancerre most of these are exclusive to a particular proprietor. Vouvray is a versatile wine albeit white only it comes in a range of sweetness levels from bone dry to doux, and it can be still, petillant, or mousseux moreover within the dry wines there are examples ready for early drinking and more serious bottlings that will be ready to drink after five or even ten years in bottle. All Vouvray is made exclusively from Chenin Blanc known locally as Pineau de la Loire. There are two broad styles of Vouvray a commercial style and a serious style. The commercial style is bottled young for early drinking and is fermented and matured entirely in tank this wine is typically demi-sec with some residual sugar, the wine is light in alcohol, and sweet only because the fermentation has been arrested, not because the grapes were overripe. The second style shows more variability year to year with less good years being typically sec to better years being demi-sec and excellent years where botrytis effects the grapes either moelleux or even doux. Some of the sec will be produced as sec-tendre which is more forgiving in its youth than a fully sec Vouvray.
Montlouis
Opposite Vouvray, on land bound by the Loire and Cher rivers, by the suburbs of Tours to the west and the Foret d’Amboise to the east, is Montlouis. There is little to differentiate the wines of Montlouis from the wines of Vouvray, in fact before the region was awarded an appellation controlee was awarded in 1938 the wines were sold under the name of its illustrious neighbor. The impostition of AC, against the wishes of the local growers was a setback from which Montlouis has still not recovered. Montlouis wine is nearly all dry (in a sec-tendre sense) or demi-sec. Few growers want to risk disaster by waiting for perhaps hard to sell Moelleux or doux wine. Montlouis seems to be more prone to late spring from with occasional severely affected crops.
Chinon
The Chinon vines are planted in a number of soils, closest to the Vienne the terrain is sand mixed with gravel; from here come the lightest wines, short lived and for early drinking. Further up the slope the soil has more clay in it mixed with sand, gravel, and limestone: medium weight wines with depth and finesse. From the limestone slopes come the wines with the most weight and character, full-bodied wines, which need time to develope, and can live in bottle for decades. The best bottles of Chinon are only worth the investment when the Autumn is dry and sunny enough to fully concentrate the ripeness of the fruit.
Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil
North and west of Chinon, on the north bank of the Loire lie the appellations of Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. There is little to distinguish the wines of these two appellations the soils are the same the encepagement is identical — Cabernet Franc. Saint Nicolas used to have a more restricted yield and is marginally more expensive. As in Chinon the soil varies between sand nearest the Loire, gravels of various sizes in the center and a limestone tuffe over a flinty clay on the higher slopes , the summits are covered in trees and scrub protecting the wines from cold winds from the north. It is difficult to distinguish between Saint-Nicolas and the rest of Bourgueil, and indeed as it is in Chinon it is easier to tell the difference between the wines of diffent soils. Again most growers have vineyards on a variety of sites and blend the various wines and perhaps make a prestige cuvee from the tuffe. Tuffe is a type of soft limestone.
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