The last several days have been a blur of winery visits, cafe lunches and picnics in beautiful locations!
We stopped by Chateau du Petit Thouars for a tour, tasting and lunch. The family has owned the chateau and its winery since 1634. We met Sebastian, the multi-grandson, and the chateau cat, Biscuit (although he wasn’t interested in posing for pictures).
Many of the vineyards in the Loire Valley harvest their grapes by hand – when they can find affordable and willing help! Some are moving to machine harvesting to save a few euro and remain competitive.
Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil is a small appellation north of Chinon known for their excellent terroir.
At the small, individually owned, Vignoble de la Chevallerie, Gaetan Bruneau was called away by vineyard business, so we had our tasting with his mother (Josiane, we think) entirely in French.
At Domaine Amirault – Clos des Quarterons we had a nice tasting with a young intern from Champagne who was (sort of ) happy to practice her English. We were offered a surprisingly nice pigeon pate with our wine!
We liked all of their wines, from the sparkling cremant to the bold aged-in-oak reds. We’re cursing Canadian customs rules only allowing us to bring home two bottles of wine each…we might be a bit over our limit!
Then it was off to lunch again, at a cute riverside bistro, Cafe de la Loire, followed by a leisurely stroll along the river.
(which means an appetizer in France)
This week we had another fantastic lunch at the Bistrot Le Jeanne d’Arc in tiny Huismes. Rilette and rillons are both slow cooked pork dishes that originated in the Touraine region of France. Kris’ salad is full of crispy rillons!
We’ve also managed to get in a little pool time at the B&B. It’s not heated, so very refreshing!
We have no specific plans for tomorrow – we may end up at another winery, or maybe we will just hang out in this beautiful space before making our way back to Paris to head home on Sunday.
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