Tag Archives: Loire Valley

VELO VOUVRAY 3: Maison Darragon: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #48

Posted on November 11, 2013 by waywardwine

For this Monday’s EU AUSTERITY DRINKING ADVENTURE, we trade a château for a maison.

Underwhelmed and starving, we leave the lofty Château Moncontour of last week’s post. Our rent-o-bikes take us to lunch of quiches, bread, and fabulous pastries. We eat on a cliff square. Mossy shingles span below us, Vouvray’s crumbling, cream church looms above us.

Full, we follow signs up a tortuous slope. We pass a villa hewn into Vouvray’s famed tuffeau cliffs: Continue reading →

Posted in Loire, White, WINERIES WANDERED | Tagged Acid, Château Moncontour, chenin blanc, Darragon, European Union, Florilege, Haut des Ruettes, Loire River, Loire Valley, Maison Darragon, Marc Bredif, Oak (wine), Sweetness of wine, Tour, Vouvray, wine | 3 Comments

VELO VOUVRAY: CYCLING THE LOIRE VALLEY TO MARC BREDIF WINERY: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #46

Posted on October 28, 2013 by waywardwine

We rent bikes in Tours and head up the Loire River, thirsty for wine.

The Loire river runs like a wrinkly tie below Paris to the Atlantic. The Vouvray AOC is a mere, million case pin-prick of 5,000 vinous acres. It sits next door to Tours.

The chenin blanc grape covers nearly all of Vouvray. But before trying wine, we head to the source: Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bike tour, chenin blanc, Food, France, Loire, Loire River, Loire Valley, Marc Bredif, Paris, Sparkling wine, Tours, Vouvray, wine | 5 Comments

TOURING TOURS DAY 1: OLGA RAFFAULT CHINON 2006 and 2009: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #45

Posted on October 21, 2013 by waywardwine

Day 81 of our EU AUSTERITY DRINKING ADVENTURE, we leave Paris for Tours.

Finally, Wayward Wine can sink its teeth into one of France’s wildest wine regions and Paris’ secret source: the Loire Valley.

Our bags rattle, lost, over streams of cobbled streets. Tram lines, torn up decades ago, are returning (thanks environmentalists) but not yet functional (thanks unions).

With our hostel found, we unload our gypsy-train of luggage and jackets to explore the town. Continue reading →

Posted in Cabernet Franc, Red | Tagged Cabernet Franc, Chinon, France, les belles caves, Les Peuilles, Loire, Loire Valley, Olga Raffault, Paris, Renaissance, wine | 1 Comment

ENTRÉE PARIS 5: Maison Rouge’s CO HO LA and Jacky Blot’s Brut Tradition: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #44

Posted on October 14, 2013 by waywardwine

This Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Adventure (day 80) finds us winding up our last days in Paris.

We revisit Montmarte and its Sacre Coeur to find both changed. Today, the sun’s glare brings out tourists and pick pockets. Inside, a moment of song and ritual seems lovely, but crowded.

Tumbling down Montmarte towards the city center we halt at Le Repaire de Bacchus: a wine-geek oasis in this urban desert. Continue reading →

Posted in Paris, WINERIES WANDERED | Tagged Brut Tradition, Carignan, CO HO LA, Cor Hominis Laetificat, European Union, France, Grenache, Jacky Blot, Jardin du Luxembourg, Le Repaire de Bacchus, Loire, Loire Valley, MAISON ROUGE, Mona Lisa, Montmartre, Mourvèdre, Musée du Louvre, Nicolas, Paris, Syrah, Tours, United States | 2 Comments

Negrette, Peyres de Loubert, Fronton, France 2009: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #27

Posted on June 30, 2013 by waywardwine

I stare hard at the grocery wine aisle in Dublin’s Marks & Spencer. What looks weird, new, cheap but decent? I spot a French bottle. Good. Peyres de Loubert makes it. Good. The funny guy hefting a barrel on the … Continue reading →