My husband and I are celebrating our 25 wedding anniversary in France in a few weeks. While our itinerary will take us to the Loire Valley for 3-4 days, I would like to work in a Vineyard/Winery between Chateau visits. Does any one have a recommendation near the Amboise-Blois area. We are staying in Candé-sur-Beuvron. I am familiar with the Cave des Producteurs in Vourvray. Are there any others worth noting?
Thank you,
Tammy
There are a lot of small wineries near where you'll be staying. The one we visited most recently is Vignobles Dinocheau (ww.vignoble-dinocheau.fr) in Monthou-sur-Cher. You can read a little bit about it in my blog entry for that visit: http://mainelywinenews.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-last-few-days-of-our-trip.html
I had an invitation because I know their US importer, but that isn't necessary to visit, it's just that they're quite small so you'd need to contact them in advance to be sure someones is there.
There are others I'm somewhat familiar with, but I'll have to look back over some materials. You don't need to go as far as Vouvray to visit a winery, but if you do, you might want to check out Jacky Blot's estates: http://www.jackyblot.fr/
We were just in that region ~ it is lovely. Vouvray is close to Amboise and we really enjoyed it.
Domaine Huet was great ~ beautiful spot, Jean was gracious and charming and wines were delicious.
Here's something I just read today about a winery in Cande-sur-Beuvron.
http://www.wineterroirs.com/2018/06/open_doors_at_christian_venier_loire.html
There's also a fun wine shop right on the road out of Amboise along the Loire called La Cave Insolite. It's owned by a wonderful winemaker in the area, François Chidaine, but he also sells others' wines, too. The time I went, his wife was in the tasting room, and she was so great at explaining different characteristics of the wines from the immediate area.
Kim, that looks like a great little wine shop. I hope people patronize it, because Francois Chidaine has had a tough couple of years, principally due to weather-related losses, but also due to a sudden change in Vouvray's appellation rules. He's always made very good wine at a fair price. I'd definitely visit if I was in the area.
