This April we were honoured to be given the opportunity to take a trip to the Loire Valley, with Wines of Loire and SmoothRed wine tours. The region itself spans a vast 800 square kilometres, and we stayed right in the centre, at Domaine de la Tortiniere outside Tours. The Chateau boasts beautiful scenery, an extensive menu and a fantastic wine list. After a good night’s sleep and healthy breakfast, we set off on our day tour.

Chateau Gaudrelle sits right on the banks of the river, with their cellars situated deep into the dug-out caves on the hillside. As we wandered through the caves, our tour guide Fred explained that they weren’t originally created for storing wine: in the 15th century Touraine was mined extensively for its Tuffeau stone, thus forming the extensive tunnels, which were subsequently used as champignonnieres (for growing mushrooms) and silkworm farms. The mines provide the perfect environment for wine storage – dark and cool throughout the year.

Tuffeau is also a famously favourable soil for sparkling wine production and brings racy acidity to white wines. This is one of the reasons why such high-quality wines are made from Chenin Blanc in Vouvray: intensely fruity and zesty, ranging from bone-dry to very sweet and both still and sparkling. We were particularly impressed by Gaudrelle’s Clos de Vigneau, an incredibly textural, easy-drinking wine with a touch of residual sugar, and their botrytised dessert wines which were still incredibly fresh, perfectly paired with the local goat’s cheese.

The next stop was Château de Minière, deep in the countryside of Bourgueil. Led by Kathleen Van den Berghe and run by a small, close-knit team of 12, Minière is fully organic, dedicated to experimental winemaking and showing the full potential of the Cabernet Franc grape.

We sampled five varietal Cab Franc wines, each vastly different from the next. The first, a very young wine, was light and fruity with a good hit of leafy, nettle notes characteristic of the grape. Older vines made more ageworthy wines, grippier with darker fruit, and the green flavours became more muted with age. The Bulles de Minière surprised us the most – a dry, stemmy sparkling wine, lighter and more refreshing than any sparkling red we’d tried before.

A day full of wine drinking merits a hearty lunch, so Marin took us for a picnic in the country, with traditional food from Touraine – duck a l’orange, a range of chunky pâtés, and heaps of Saint-Maure goat’s cheese, alongside a natural red wine from Domaine Lamé Delisle Boucard.

Finally we ventured into Chinon, where Cabernet Franc dominates. We were welcomed at Chateau de Petit Thouars by owners Sebastian and D’Arcy. Wine has been made at the Chateau since the 17th century, but Sebastian has been dedicated to modernising and undertaking new projects since taking the helm, including planting the first Chenin Blanc vines in the early 2010s and steering the wine toward certified organic status. After a tour around the vineyards, we met with head winemaker Michel for a tasting.

Petit Thouars’ dry white Chenin, Le Clos, is made from vines only a few years old – with huge depth and zingy acidity, it was perhaps the most intense wine we’d tried all week. The Mademoiselle du Petit Thouars rosé was masterfully unique, with a heady florality and rich finish of roasted coffee and Haribo cherry lips.

The day ended with a wonderful three-course meal with tailored wine pairings at Restaurant Charles Barrier. Most surprising was what the chefs managed to achieve with goat’s cheese: we were treated to an amuse-bouche of turkey breast in Sainte-Maure foam, and at the end of the meal, an apple sorbet with chunks of the cheese buried within – an explosive, intense flavour combination that paired perfectly with the Quarts de Chaume suggested by the Sommelier.

Cool caves and enticing aromas at Chateau Gaudrelle

The cellar door at Château de Minière supported the beautiful work of a local glass artist!

Lunch in the hills of the Loire Valley…it’s a hard life!

Super sociable wee mouse-catcher, Biscuit…putting the chat in Chateau de Petit Thouars

We realise it’s not really the done thing to photograph one’s food in a posh restaurant but LOOK HOW PRETTY!

NB if you go to the Loire Valley prepare to eat delicious local goats’ cheese in every course. This was dessert. It’s full of goats’ cheese…

Restaurant Charles Barrier