Our wine diversity and… its richness!
Our local wines of Touraine and more widely the Loire Valley wines are known to be well-balanced wines, easy to drink and fresh in the mouth.
More than 100 wineries are opened to the visitors. It is the occasion to have a full discovery of the different wines…and to take a few bottles back home. Another option? Pick from the wine list of a nearby restaurant!
A « wine » trip, back to history
The well-known French writer, François Rabelais, born in 1494, already mentioned Touraine as a land of good food and wine. He already granted great value to a certain art of living that people have kept through the centuries. Rabelais was especially fond of the local wines: the red wines of Chinon, a charming medieval town settled along the Vienne river and the wines of Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil, two towns located north of the Loire river. All of them are made with the same grape variety called “cabernet franc”.
Chinon vineyard – Loire Valley
Along the Loire river, you will also find the white and sparkling wines of Vouvray and Montlouis-sur-Loire made with a grape called “chenin blanc”. And to complete the list, there is the Touraine Noble Joué, the Touraine Azay-le-Rideau (rosé wines), the Touraine Amboise (made with the “côt” grape for the red wine), the Touraine Chenonceaux (100% “sauvignon” white grape)., Discover and appreciate, during a meal, the various types wines and their differences. At the restaurant, each dish goes with a wine: a professional sommelier will help you to choose and will make you travel all around Touraine!
In the top 100 best wine lists
At the end of 2022, three Touraine establishments were among the 100 finalists in the 7th edition of the “Tour des Cartes” trophy, organised by the magazine Terre de Vins (10,000 wine lists were identified and 1,000 were studied by a jury of experts and professionals).
Already rewarded in the past, the Bistrot des Belles Caves (Tours / brasserie category) has about 1200 references on its wine list, with naturally a good place for local wines. The same goes for:
- La Roche Le Roy (Tours / gastronomic restaurant category), where you can taste certain vintages of Noiré estate, Charles Pain, Château Gaudrelle, Vincent Carême, François Chidaine…
- Au bon Laboureur (Chenonceaux / traditional restaurant category).
A promising wine list at the “Au Bon Laboureur” inn – Chenonceaux
Other good adresses
Of course, they are not the only ones to bet on the winegrowers of the Loire. Find below, a selection of restaurants having interesting Touraine wines to go with their cooking. From the East to the Ouest of Touraine:
Chez odette, in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, where you will find the wines of Frédéric Mabileau estate.
Au coin des halles, in Langeais: wine estates of Nicolas Paget, Yannick Amirault, La Chevalerie, Pierre et Bertrand Couly, Jacky Blot…
Le XII de Luynes: wine estates of Xavier Weisskopf, Vincent Carême, Wilfried Rousse, La Chevalerie, François Plouzeau…
Le Baccara, in Tours: wine estates of Clos des Quarterons, château de la Grille, Maison Darragon, Astraly, Jourdan/Pichard…
La maison des Halles, in Tours: wine estates of Fabrice Gasnier, Philippe Alliet, Geoffrey de Nouël, Bonnigal-Bodet, La Chevalerie, Damien Pinon…
Le Moulin Fleuri, in Veigné: wine estates of Brédif, Frédéric Mabileau, Lamé Delisle Boucard, Laura David, Couly Dutheil, Xavier Weisskopf…
Le Lion d’Or, in Amboise: wine estates of Xavier Frissant, Jacky Blot, Couly-Dutheil, Closerie de Chanteloup, Les Vallettes, La Grange Tiphaine…
Bike tour in the vineyard of Vouvray
Le Clos des Quarterons wine cellar - Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil