Loire
Loire
Within France, the Loire Valley region produces the greatest diversity of wine styles. The array of wines made reflects the different sub-regions that share little in common due to the region's sweeping expanse. It's an exciting mesh of sparkling, dry, sweet, rose and reds styles.
Known as the 'Garden of France' the Loire Valley is a prolific food bowl producing delectable treats across cheese, cherries, apples, butter and vegetables. Covering 1000km from east to west, this picturesque region is a feast for both your eyes and tastebuds.
Grapes
White: Chenin Blanc, Melon de Bourgogne (Muscadet), Sauvignon Blanc
Red: Cabernet Franc, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Grolleau
Styles
The Muscadets of the Nantais are influenced by the maritime climate. These wines are subtly textured, freshly fruited and best drunk young with some oysters. Anjou is where Chenin Blanc shines in various styles - sparkling, dry and sweet. Touraine is home to the tuffeau soils which Chenin blanc loves in Vouvray, and we see some red wines here too. Lastly, in the Central Vineyards where the soils are similar to Chablis, Sauvignon Blanc is the cross-bearer producing some exhilarating wines in Sancerre and Pouilly Fume.
Favourite Producers
Pepiere, Baumard, Pierre Bise, Roches Neuves, Huet, Francois Chidaine, Didier Dageneau, Vacheron, Gerard Boulay,
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Domaine du Salvard Unique Sauvignon Blanc 2020Previously labelled 'Unique' Sauvignon Blanc. With a new name and spanking new label designed by the talented French-based artist Louise Sheeran, the package here now reflects the quality of the wine inside. Cropped from mature vines rooted in the sandy clay soils of Cheverny's Fougères sur Bièvre, Blanc de Salvard is 100% Sauvignon Blanc raised on lees without any oak. The Delaille brothers' 2020 is another succulent and vibrant white, packed with aromas and flavours of pithy citrus, and shot through with smoky, resinous freshness and mouth-watering acidity. Classic Vin de Soif Loire.2020sauvignon BlancFrance422$29.00 As low as $26.10 -
Domaine du Salvard Unique Sauvignon Blanc 2022Previously labelled ‘Unique’ Sauvignon Blanc. With a new name and spanking new label designed by the talented French-based artist Louise Sheeran, the package here now reflects the quality of the wine inside. Cropped from mature vines rooted in the sandy clay soils of Cheverny’s Fougères sur Bièvre, Blanc de Salvard is 100% Sauvignon Blanc raised on lees without any oak.
This is how sauvignon blanc should be. Racy, minerality at its core but tamed with white fruits, nectarine, a little hint of something tropical delicately in the background and packed with flavour without being a one-dimensional tropical fruit bomb. This a great example of what a little care and attention can turn this somewhat ubiquitous grape into something so freakin delicious.2022sauvignon BlancFrance422$31.00 As low as $27.90 -
Christophe Patrice VDF Chardonnay 2021More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2021White BlendFrance422$37.00 As low as $33.30 -
Damien Pinon Tuffo Vouvray Sec 2022Damien Pinon is the third generation of his family to naturally farm Chenin Blanc in the chalky soils of Vernou-sur-Brenne in the appellation of Vouvray. His vines are old, creating lush, expressive white wines.
Ah Tuffo! This wine seems to never fail us. Not only is it a wonderful example of classic Vouvray it always delivers that little x-factor and bit of pizzaz we like. That lovely clay/waxed citrus and quince fruit comes at you straight off-the-bat with that slaty chalky thin that chenin does in the Loire so well. Some apple and pear drop generosity on the palate is cut by crunchy acidity and a little hit of phenolic grip that stick all those beautiful flavours to your mouth. There is a little floral flourish in the middle and spritz of mixed sweet spice on the finish. A cracker!2022Chenin BlancFrance422$38.00 As low as $34.20 -
Damien Pinon Vouvray Brut NVThird generation vignerons, the Pinons have 25 hectares in Vernou-sur-Brenne. 50% of their production is sparkling and 50% still wine with nothing sold off to the négoce.
We have long loved the wines of Damien Pinon and when we first tried this little number we were pretty stoked. Great sparkling Loire is such a treat. It captures all that zingy, racy, pure goodness of chenin blanc while bringing the added dimension of bubbles into the equation. They seem like a perfect partnership and we absolutely love this wine.
Quince and granny smith, talcum powder, quartyz spice and a gently honeysuckle, floral element that floats deliciously around in the background. Its pure and precise but fills out across the palate with each sip. Sometimes, Loire Sparkling is a little too lean but this deliver plenty of fruit at the same time to balance of the fine, minerally acidity.
NVChenin BlancFrance422$38.00 As low as $34.20 -
Jo Landron Amphibolite Muscadet 2021Biodynamic. One of Landron's emblematic cuvées, Amphibolite, takes its name from the greenish, metamorphic bedrock (amphibolite) where this wine is grown. Produced from vines aged between 35 and 40 years, this was vinified with only a short period on lees, as Jo Landron wants to retain as much freshness and minerality as possible. “It's a free-spirited-muscadet,” he says. Only minor doses of sulfur are used to block malolactic conversion. Bottling without filtration occurs early (in March) to retain the wine's earth-to-glass essence.
With some lovely textural padding this year, it's an ultra-pure, racy expression of Muscadet loaded with white floral notes and all kinds of citrus underpinned by the briny, iodine minerality that is a hallmark of this cuvée. Sculpted and steely, it's all salted apple and spring flower, penetrating acidity binding the mouthwatering tension to the wine's well-honed texture. A classic Landron!
2021MuscadetFrance422Special Price $39.00 Regular Price $46.00 -
Jo Landron Amphibolite Muscadet 2022More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2022MuscadetFrance422$39.00 As low as $35.10 -
Jonathan Didier Pabiot Pouilly Fume Leon 2020 375mlThe 2020 Léon is surprisingly tangy and bright for this warm vintage with just 13% alcohol. It's light in body and focused while 12-18 months on lees has provided a sense of roundness and texture to the mid palate as well as a touch of autolysis-derived pastry character to the apple and citrus fruit and lightly floral aromas. Vibrant, fresh and youthful. Best enjoyed in the first three to six years of its life for its energy. REBECCA GIBB, Vinous.com
The former Florilège comes with a new name this year. Predominantly from limestone soils but also silex, the 2020 Pouilly Fumé Léon offers a clear, deep, fresh and spicy, quite complex and iodine bouquet with great precision and mineral intensity. Aged in stainless steel, concrete and 20% oak barrels (228 and 500 liter), this is a rich and round, very elegant and aromatic Pouilly-Fumé with good mineral and fruity freshness and a long, intense and tensioned finish that reveals fine tannins and crisp grip. This is a substantial wine with excellent aging potential. STEPHAN RHEINHARDT, Wine Advocate
2020sauvignon BlancFrance422$41.00 As low as $36.90 -
Y.amirault Amirault Bourgueil Cote 50 2022The old La Coudraye, which changed to La Côte back in the 2018 vintage to reflect the variety of origins for the fruit. This is a sample drawn before bottling. A vibrant hue in the glass, and a beautifully pure and eager nose of black cherry, blackcurrant and damson fruits. The palate remains true to the nose, with that same sense of purity and an underbelly of soft chalk, before a sappy cherry-skin character at the end. Modestly extracted tannins, firm but not over done, with nice acidity for this warmer vintage, this should evolve nicely for some years, but should be ready to go within a year or two. The alcohol is said to be 13%. CHRIS KISSACK, Thewinedoctor.com2022Cabernet BlendsFrance422$47.00 As low as $42.30 -
Rocher des Violettes Cot Touraine 2020This comes from a wide ranging age of vines between 5 - 129 years old on silty clay over limestone from the sites; Bel-Air, La Rochère, Le Grand Poirier and Les Borderies.
Made from Cot, the local name for malbec there's an ebullient lift to the nose of maraschino cherries, violets and fragrant blackberries with hints of black pepper thanks to the inclusion of whole bunches. A framework of tannins envelopes the intense core of dark berries with an undertow of savoury minerality to support. This is handsomely structured and will repay cellar time, though it's appealing and delicious from the outset. GABRIELLE POY
2020Cabernet FrancFrance422$50.00 As low as $45.00 -
Domaine de la Noblaie Le Temps des Cerises Chinon Rouge 2022More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2020Cabernet FrancFrance422$53.00 As low as $47.70 -
Rocher des Violettes Touche Mitaine Sec Montlouis 2020Beautifully expressive Chenin Blanc, fusing both crystalline acidity with flecks of richness; white flowers, ripe lemons and subtle honeyed notes. Energy in glass and complexity that continually morphs as you go back for another sip; Underrated gem! JOHN BARR, BEAUNE & BEYOND
100% Chenin blanc, hand-picked in successive tries from 4ha of vines averaging 35 years old and planted at 6500 vines/ha.
2020Chenin BlancFrance422$55.00 As low as $49.50 -
Domaine Vacheron Sancerre Blanc 2022 375mlThe domain of Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron, certified biodynamic since 2005 and farming 34 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and 11 hectares of Pinot Noir in the Sancerre AOP, is producing world class white and also red wines predominantly yet not exclusively on silex soils. STEPHAN REINHARDT, The Wine Advocate2022sauvignon BlancFrance422$55.00 As low as $49.50 -
Domaine Thomas 'Le Perier' Sancerre 2022More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2022sauvignon BlancFrance422$55.00 As low as $49.50 -
Rocher des Violettes Petillant Originel Montlouis 2019A mid-gold hue, with abundant pastry notes, honeysuckle, orange balm and oatmeal accents, pointing toward a fuller-weighted, very ripe and ambitious Mountlouis fizz. A warm year. This is a commune that has strutted past Vouvray on the opposite side of the Loire, and is today responsible for a good swag of the most exciting white-wine producers in the region, if not the world. The wine finishes textural and bright, marked by chenin's lanolin, tarte tatin and dried hay, before a plume of dutiful freshness. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. NED GOODWINE MW, James Suckling
100% sparkling chenin blanc made in the Pétillant Naturel style from a single parcel in the lieu-dit “Le Moulin”
Preserved lemon and citrus pith with chalky notes sprinkled throughout and a delicate lift and soft fruit profile. Dry and chalky with a savoury edge. Pure with a seam of mineral that runs the length. Only 5 producers making this wine in Montlouis - very cool. MYLES THOMSON, PWS
2020Chenin BlancFrance422$59.00 As low as $53.10 -
Balivet Bugey Cerdon 2021More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2021Sparkling WineFrance422$59.00 As low as $53.10 -
Huet Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Sec 2022 375mlDomaine Huet reigns supreme in Vouvray. They make some of the world's most pure dry wines and piquant sweet styles from the racy and multifaceted Chenin Blanc. But you'll need patience, these powerhouses need around a decade to start revealing their inherent complexities.
Le Haut Lieu is the original vineyard, purchased by founder Gaston Huet in 1928. It's based on heavy clay and chalk in the topsoil means these wines tend to be the most approachable in youth, though they age beautifully.
The 2022 Le Haut-Lieu Sec is a lithe, reductive style with floral character and talcum powder. Full of phenolic, lip-smacking texture woven through its core, lending a sense of satisfying grunt to this dry yet balanced style. Clarity, precision and harmony are keywords in this wine's execution. A little more fleeting on the finish than ideal. (5.5g/L) REBECCA GIBB MW, Vinous
2022Chenin BlancFrance422$61.00 As low as $54.90 -
Rocher des Violettes Les Borderies Demi Sec Montlouis 2020From a single vineyard of 50+ year old vines on sand and silex (with pure limesonte just below).
Borderies is often the first vineyard to be harvested from slightly raisened fruit. Notes of jasmine, apple pie and crushed rocks on the nose lead into a subtle sweetness without heaviness. On the palate orchard fruits join in, signing off chalky minerality and a stream of quince-like phenolics which bring balance and punctuate the flow of sweetness. This is a delectable off-dry wine which could be served with cheese or richer seafood dishes. GABRIELLE POY
A little flint and white flowers with just picked anjou pear and a touch of pineapple and a little hint of bees wax. Fine and elegant with pure white fruits and a chalky mineral streak. Crystal clear and clean. Very pure. MYLES THOMSON, PWS
2020Chenin BlancFrance422$65.00 As low as $58.50 -
Chateau de Plaisance Coteaux du Layon 1er cru Chaume 2019More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2020Chenin BlancFrance422$75.00 As low as $67.50 -
Gerard Boulay 'Tradition' Sancerre Chavignol 2020More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2019sauvignon BlancFrance422$81.00 As low as $78.00 -
Gerard Boulay Sancerre a Chavignol 2022Boulay’s entry-level is drawn from mature, 35- to 50-year-old vines rooted entirely in the limestone soils of Chavignol. The multiple sites are largely sloping vineyards on the lower flanks of the Chavignol hillside terroirs of Les Chasseignes, Les Longues Fins and Le Rue de Veaux. Importantly, Boulay also includes fruit from his younger vines on the great hillside of La Grande Côte.
The juice is naturally fermented and aged for eight months in tank, on lees, with a small volume also fermented in a single, large wooden cask. This is the only blended cuvée in the Boulay line-up, yet, even here, we can taste the kind of finesse, texture and stony/earthy/salty minerality that has made this humble grower one of France’s most respected vignerons.2019sauvignon BlancFrance422$82.00 As low as $73.80 -
Domaine Vacheron Sancerre Blanc 2023... its straight Sancerre Blanc, a blend of parcels (limestone 45%, flint 45% and 10% marl), is fermented in tank after being hand harvested. It is a stellar ‘entry’ wine to their range.VINOUS
Domaine Vacheron is one of Sancerre’s elite properties, producing both white and red Sancerre wines of amazing purity and definition. The domaine has been completely transformed over to biodynamic farming with two young cousins, Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique Vacheron, at the helm. No synthetic material is used in the vineyard, harvests are carried out exclusively by hand, and the only fertilizer used is produced from the compost pile. Yields are kept extremely low. Having inherited some of the most coveted parcels in the appellation, the cousins are trying a Burgundian approach to Sancerre winemaking, with parcels being vinified .
Flinty sparks mix with fresh thyme and grapefruit pith aromas. The pure core of fruit cascades like a waterfall onto the palate, it’s luminous and palate staining while a minerally vein reminds you of its chalky and fossil laden soils it shares with Chablis. It slithers along, finishing with a mouth watering saline finish. It’s a refined and stylish Sancerre, so very damn delicious. GABRIELLE POY
2023sauvignon BlancFrance422$85.00 As low as $76.50 -
Gerard Boulay Sancerre a Chavignol 2023Jumping straight in at the deep end, Boulay’s entry-level is drawn from mature, 35- to 50-year-old vines rooted entirely in the limestone soils of Chavignol. The multiple sites are largely slopes on the Chavignol hillside terroirs of Les Chasseignes, Les Longues Fins and La Rue de Veaux. This is quite distinct from most Sancerre derived from the plains, with more fertile and productive soils. Importantly, Boulay also includes fruit from younger vines on the “star” terroirs of La Grande Côte, Clos de Beaujeu and Monts Damnés.
It’s a fleshier release than last year, and you can look forward to flavours of intense candied citrus, sweet herbs, Kaffir lime and white stone fruit intertwined with a lovely rocky texture alongside deliciously salty, mineral vibrancy, caraway spice and mouthwatering phenolic structure. It finishes with stony definition, chalky cut and great length. The first wine in the range is already one of the finest expressions of Sauvignon Blanc you are likely to find.
2019sauvignon BlancFrance422$89.00 As low as $80.10 -
Rocher des Violettes Le Grand Poirier Molleaux Montlouis 2020From a 0.8 ha plot ‘Le Grand Poirier’ planted in 1950. This has about 50% botrytis and aged in older barrels. RS 85 g/l
Smells so very strongly of fresh sage and honey and pineapple and medjool dates soaked in warm water. Lovely earthiness. Linden leaf. Saffron. An unusual nuttiness. Pineapple syrup and pressed sage on the palate. The sweetness fills the mouth but this is a wine that needs your silence, your listening, your waiting. If you give it time, sit back, find a nook in the garden or tucked into your old armchair, it's a wine that gives so much more than sweetness. It hands you memories of rain on earth, of bruised clover underneath the ripening grapes, of bees, blue skies, black skies, pink-blazed-morning skies, mist-draped dawns. You can taste yeast, old wood, black coffee, a slowly melting fingertip of dark chocolate on your tongue, ginger-biscuit crumbs. It's something, this wine. TAMLYN CURRIN, Jancis Robinson
2020Chenin BlancFrance422$90.00 -
Rocher des Violettes Le Grand Clos Sec Montlouis 2021More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2021Chenin BlancFrance422$90.00 As low as $81.00 -
Francois Chidaine Montlouis Les Tuffeaux 2020More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2020Chenin BlancFrance422$90.00 As low as $81.00 -
Francois Chidaine VDF Les Argiles 2021More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2021Chenin BlancFrance422$95.00 As low as $85.50 -
Francois Chidaine Clos Habert 2019This Domaine has a number of cuvées that often fall into what would traditionally be called demi-sec territory. However, Chidaine prefers to call these wines tendre, or 'gently dry'. This three-hectare clos sits just above the Clos de Breuil, on a plateau where the silex (flint) gives way to broken chalk and clay.
From a soil composed of clay and coarse flint elements covering the subsoil made up of tuff, the 2019 Montlouis sur Loire Clos Habert opens with a very fine and delicate bouquet of finely concentrated yellow-fleshed fruit aromas along with herbal and flinty notes. Round and intense, with perfectly ripe fruit, fine tannins and delicate acidity, this is a sustainably intense and salty Chenin that is far too young to be served today but will age for some decades. STEPHAN REINHARDT, wineadvocate.com
2019Chenin BlancFrance422$101.00 As low as $90.90 -
Patrick Baudouin Effusion Anjou Blanc 2020More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2020Chenin BlancFrance422$105.00 As low as $94.50 -
Francois Chidaine Vin de France Moelleux (Vouvray) 2018Again this moelleux cuvée has a very gentle residual sugar, with just 25 g/l. Unsurprisingly it feels very pure and fresh on the nose, with a very focused style, with scents of peach leaf and some lightly honeyed orchard fruit. The palate is pure, fresh and bright, mixing a pithy substance of both orchard and citrus fruits, fresh and pure, with a very fine acid backbone. This is quite striking in the finish, where it is long and cleansed with wonderful vibrancy. Very good potential here but it needs time.”
CHRIS KISSACK, thewinedoctor.com
Chidaine does not release a Moelleux from his Vouvray vineyards every year—the balance has to be just so—and so you can be sure that when he does it is worth seeking out. It's drawn from the clay-limestone vineyards (of Le Bouchet, L’Espagnole, L’Homme, La Chatterie et al.) and made in the same fashion as Les Tuffeaux. As we have seen chez Huet, 2018 was a stunning year for sweeter styles of Chenin Blanc and here the song remains the same.2016Chenin BlancFrance422$105.00 As low as $94.50 -
Pierre Bise Savennieres Roche Aux Moines 2020The 2020 Roche aux Moines is a full bodied, round shouldered style with supple texture and a reassuring sense of grip from a combination of acid, phenolics and the schistous/sandstone soils of this famous vineyard. It's a wine that takes its 14% alcohol with ease and glides along, providing long, long length. Having spent 18 months on lees in barrel, there is an integrated nutty oak and pastry-like character within the wine's core. Mouth-watering acidity makes you want more. REBECCA GIBB MW, Vinous2020Chenin BlancFrance422$120.00 As low as $108.00 -
Francois Chidaine Montlouis Les Bournais 2022More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
2021Chenin BlancFrance422$125.00 As low as $112.50 -
Loire Valley Pack Fernch Wine School Masterclass
More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!
$195.00