Category Archives: Loire Valley

France, Loire Valley, Uncategorized, Wine

Wine Tasting in the Loire Valley Part 2

June 20, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 4 Comments

I just sat down to write up my impressions of our recent wine tasting with Femme Francophile at Vinomania in Blois but, surprise, surprise, I’ve left my notepad at Closerie Falaiseau, and I don’t know how much I can rely on my memory to relate the details of a 3-hour session! But I’ll try anyway and then write another post when I get my notepad back.

Virginie, the sommelier, has various wine tasting themes to offer, but I chose one that links the history of the Loire Valley with the local wine production. Now, wine from the Loire Valley is not held in much esteem in France. Most people favour bordeaux and burgundies for red and Alsatian wines (particularly rieslings) and chardonnay for white, although sancerre does have a small following. There is actually an historical reason for this, but that’s one of the things I can’t remember!

The Loire vineyard is 1013 kilometres long and covers 70,000 hectares. That’s about 170,000 acres. And they produce every type of wine: white (52%), red (25%), rosé (16%) and natural sparkling (6%). The grape varieties (or cépages as they’re called in French) are numerous but the names are often different from those used in other parts of France.

Melon de Bourgogne (brought over from Burgundy by monks in the 17th century), chenin (also called pineau de la Loire), sauvignon (which sancerre is made of), chardonnay (also called auvergnat), pinot gris (alias malvaise), chasselas and romorantin are the main whites – already quite a large collection. The reds are cabernet franc (known as bréton because it originally came from Nantes), gamay, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, grolleau (sometimes grollot), pinot d’aunis and cot (alias malbec). You may recognise cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon from Bordeaux among those (the other variety down that way is merlot) and pinot noir and chardonnay from Burgundy. But that’s where any ressemblance stops.

The main production areas are Nantes, Anjou-Saumur, Touraine and the Centre. The most well-known appellations (that’s how they categorise wine in France) are probably chinon, bourgueil, saint nicolas de bourgueil, saumur and saumur-champigny for reds, sancerre, as I mentioned, for whites, and vouvray, which is a sparkling wine. If you don’t live in France, you’ve probably never heard of most of them. So with all those different grapes (which can be blended of course!), how do you find your way around?

Each grape variety has a range of “noses” to choose from. For whites (and these are probably the easiest to detect), the main ones are “white blossoms” such as hawthorn and apple blossoms, briar roses and roses, citrus fruits, grilled almonds and hazelnuts, pears, pineapple, lychees, apricots, toast, honey and butter. Sounds like breakfast, doesn’t it? But fresh butter is the very distinctive smell of a French chardonnay from Burgundy. The list isn’t really that long and with a bit of training, you can learn to detect most of those, particularly if you practise with those little phials I told you about in a previous post. Our perception of smell is very personal so, as Virginie insisted, there’s no “right” or “wrong”.

The reds offer a lot more variety as far as “noses” go, but on the whole, you can look for berries such as red and black currants, blackberries and raspberries and dark stone fruit such as prunes and cherries. Some of the stronger reds might conjure up mushrooms, cedar, pepper, leather and musk. A smell of vanilla is a typical sign of oak. In the Loire in particular, green capsicum (bell pepper) is a sure indication of cabernet franc or cabernet sauvignon, particularly when they’re young.

So knowing what to expect can be very helpful when you first begin wine tasting. Next time, we’ll get down to the nitty gritty!

France, Loire Valley, Wine

Wine Tasting in the Loire Valley Part 1

June 18, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 2 Comments

Yesterday, I explained how I became a wine lover. Before describing my best wine tasting yet at Vinomania, in the company of Kathy Standford from Femmes Francophiles, I thought you might like to read her post first, seen from the viewpoint of a newcomer to wine tasting. And don’t you just love the photo!

Fraussie, with whom I have been staying in Blois at Closerie Falaiseau, suggested that we do a wine dégustation at Vinomania in Blois. Knowing that my wine knowledge was very poor, I was only too happy to agree. Friday evening whilst the locals were making their way to bars to watch the latest football match we headed to the wine bar come restaurant. Virginie, our effervescent, knowledgeable sommelier, tailored a three hour comprehensive session for us in English that covered information about the various production areas in the Loire Valley, history of the winemaking in the area and the methodology of wine tasting. Read more

France, Loire Valley, Wine

History of a Wine Lover

June 17, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 8 Comments

view_hungerie — View from “La Hungerie” in Normandy

When Relationnel and I first met 16 years ago, he had a wonderful cellar but no one to share it with. Although I hadn’t done any serious wine tasting, I loved good wine. So I was delighted to help him taste some of the bottles he’d been keeping in reserve. I can still remember the taste of a wonderful bottle of Château le Bonnat 1988 that we sipped on a terrace with a bucolic view of the Norman countryside in front of a plate of oysters.

So when I was asked by a colleague at university to be part of the adjudication committee for a terminological dissertation on wine tasting, I didn’t hesitate. When the defence was finished and we’d given our mark, the student, who had studied to be a sommelier, gave us a mini tasting. What a revelation! When I got home, I told Relationnel that I wanted to go to wine tasting classes. “No problem”, he said, “we can join the oenological circle at work”.

Now why hadn’t he mentioned that earlier? So off we went and that was the beginning of a wonderful adventure into the realm of wine growing and wine tasting. We gradually learnt what to look for when tasting a new wine, helped along by the “Nez du Vin”, a collection of tiny bottles containing different “noses” which I have described in a previous post.

Our holidays from then on usually revolved around wine. We’d choose a region, find a gîte to stay in for a week or so and armed with the independant wine growers’ guide Gilbert et Gaillard, visit a couple of cellars a day. Depending on the time of year, we’d spend the rest of the time hiking, visiting, cycling or sipping wine in front of a log fire. Our first wine holiday was in Bordeaux in 1999 and we came back with the boot of the car chock-a-block, the prize possession being a 1964 bordeaux supérieur that cost us 50 francs. We certainly regretted not buying a couple of dozen but we weren’t sure how it would travel.

I don’t remember the order of our visits, but we once had two unforgettable weeks in Alsace during harvest time. We’ve tasted wine in several parts of Burgundy and the Loire Valley, as well as Sancerre, Beaujolais, Cahors, Minervois, Bergerac, Gaillac, Jurançon and Nîmes. We’ve also toured vineyards in Italy and Luxembourg, not to mention the Hunter Valley and Orange in Australia where I came across an old school friend from Townsville running a vineyard with her husband! We’ve tasted wines in Switzerland, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia and even Egypt!

As time passed, our cellar became overstocked and our wine consumption dropped, particularly when I decided that I needed to lose weight, so our holidays are much less focussed on wine these days. However, now that we’ve bought a house in the Loire, we feel we should get to know the local wines better. And to start off, I went to a wine tasting yesterday in Blois at Vinomania with fellow blogger Femme Francophile, based on the connection between the history of the Loire Valley and the local wines.

I could honestly say it’s the best wine tasting I’ve ever had. More tomorrow!

Loire Valley, Restaurants

Domaine des Hauts de Loire, Onzain

June 14, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 15 Comments

Little did we know when we celebrated Relationnel’s birthday at Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain in the Loire Valley last October that in June we would have finished furnishing a 400-year old house for rental just 15 minutes away! We had decided to come down for a week at the beginning of October to start looking for a place to retire in October 2014 and didn’t imagine for one minute that the first place we visited would be our dream home.

It was already cold in October and when we arrived at Rémy Giraud’s 2-star restuarant at Domaine des Hauts de Loire, an elegant 19th century hunting pavilion in a 70-hectare park, we were delighted to find ourselves in a beautiful drawing room with a log fire. There we were served amuse-bouches with our traditional glass of champagne, based on truffles, basil and red mullet. We were given the menu to peruse and decided to take the wine pairing menu. I had told them in advance that it was “madame’s invitation” so Relationnel was given a menu without prices.

After finishing our apéritif, we were shown to our table in the beautifully decorated dining roof next door. I can only say it must have been a very luxurious hunting lodge in its day! The pikeperch mousse with a crustacean sauce and the caviar and crayfish blancmanger were served with a local chardonnay 2007 from Oisly. This was followed by foie gras with shallot preserve and truffle shavings, lobster with chestnut ravioli and green apple jelly with rosemary and lime. And they were only the starters!

As becomes a hunting lodge in autumn, the main course was fillet of doe with parsnip and cardomom croquettes and mushrooms. To accompany it, we were served an excellent cabernet sauvignon made from the grapes of very old vines. After goat’s cheese with paprika on capsicum, we had peaches in basil with a sorbet in filo pastry and a chocolate sphere with the name of the restaurant in gold letters served with pears.

Of course, I only know what we had to eat and drink because I noted down everything in my trusty iPhone. What I do remember, however, was that each dish was an artistic marvel that tasted as delicious as it looked and that the service was impeccable. Next time, we’ll go there on a fine day so we can eat on the terrace that we tantalised us from our inside table. A perfect venue for a special occasion!

You can order à la carte (starters about 35 euro and main courses about 55 euro) or choose a set menu at 160, 96 or 77 euro at night or a special “express” menu at lunchtime Wednesdays to Fridays for 49 euro including a main course, dessert, glass of wine, bottled water and coffee.

Domaine des Hauts de Loire, Route de Herbault, 41150 Onzain 02 54 20 72 57, hauts-loire@relaischateaux.com, www.domainehautsloire.com (the English version of the site doesn’t seem to be working at present).

There is also a hotel with 25 bedrooms and 11 apartments but I haven’t tried them!

France, Loire Valley

A Dead Mouse in a Country House

June 11, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 3 Comments

I wake up on Monday morning in Blois by myself. Relationnel has gone back to Paris and Femme Francophile is arriving by train to spend a week with me. I look out the window and see the sun has unexpectedly come out. Yesterday’s weather report for the week was pretty dismal.

I get dressed and go downstairs to have breakfast. I remember that I am supposed to bring the rubbish bin in from the pavement. I take off my slippers to put on my rubber clogs and nearly have a heart attack. There, just next to my foot is a tiny dead mouse. I don’t have my lenses in so I can’t see it very well, but it’s definitely a dead mouse. I can see the tail.

Yesterday, I removed one of those sausage-shaped door draught preventers left by Mrs Previous Owner. I don’t have a problem with draughts and it looked a bit scruffy so I decided to remove it but I didn’t notice the mouse or you can be sure, I would have got Relationnel to remove it.

So I wonder how I’m going to get rid of it without seeing it in any greater detail. I decide it would be better to have breakfast first. After all, it’s not going to run away, is it? So I take a little longer over my tea than usual steadfastly ignoring the corner of the room with the dead mouse.

Relationnel rings so I explain my problem. “Just pick it up with a dust pan and put it in the rubbish bin,” he says. As though I haven’t thought of that already. It’s all very well for him, he’s a country boy and he’s a man anyway. I have visions of my brother, aged 6, berating my very tall and really very soft-hearted father, also a country boy, I might add, because he had caught a large mouse in a trap then hit it on the head with a spade to put it out of it’s misery. “There you are, 6 ft 3”, he sobbed in anger, “and there is that tiny mouse and you killed it!” He wouldn’t talk to Dad for days.

I remember that Femme Franchophile used to live in the Australian outback, unlike me, a pure city dweller, my only experience being of cockroaches and frogs (which I hate) inside the house and an occasional snake skin or toad (even worse than frogs) in the garden. But she might not feel very welcome so I abandon the idea.

Then I think of Steph and her tales of love, life and llamas in the Limousin and all the terrible things she has had to face over the years and can imagine how appalled she would be that someone might be squeamish about throwing out a tiny little dead mouse. I take my courage in my two hands, as the French say.

First of all, I try to pick it up with a newspaper but then I see it is stuck to the floor. So I look around and see the fire shovel that I’ve just de-rusted. I gingerly take it over to the mouse, slide it under, unstick it from the floor and scoop it up. Trying not to look at it too closely, I take it out and deposit it in the rubbish bin. And I inwardly thank Steph, for giving me the courage!

Who knows, I may become a country girl yet.

France, Loire Valley

An Irish Band in the Loire

June 10, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 4 Comments

One of the things most people worry about when they retire to a new area is isolation. It can take years to get to know the locals. So we’re very fortunate in our choice of Blois because we already have a whole network of English and French speakers. Each time we come here, there is some kind of event on. Last time I told you about the monthly get-together on the first Friday of the month at The Shaker in Amboise.

This time, we went to hear an Irish band called The Palers playing at a private home in the little village of Cangey about half an hour from Blois. There were nearly a hundred people there including kids of every age. I don’t know about the boys but the girls had a wonderful time dancing to the music in the big old barn behind the house. Relationnel and I love Irish music and have quite a few CDs of the Dubliners (which my kids don’t like at all!)

When we were in the garden having food and drinks before the performance, no fewer than four hot air balloons flew over. They looked so peaceful floating across the air, but I’m afraid with my fear of heights, I’m not tempted, even though I’m told that it’s not a problem when you don’t have your feet on the ground. Hot air balloon are called mongolfières in French after the two brothers who are said to have invented them in 1782, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etiennes Mongolfier.

But it wasn’t until the 1950s with the invention of the nylon balloon and the use of propane as a fuel that they came into widespread use, first in the United States, then in France in 1972. They’re extremely popular in the Loire Valley because they give you a wonderful view of the many châteaux in the region. The balloon is suspended above a wicker basket that takes up to 10 or 12 people. And only in the Loire do you find yourself behind one on the road!

Flowers & gardens, France, Loire Valley

A Rose Garden in a Priory

June 4, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 6 Comments

June is a wonderful month in the Loire Valley because all the roses are out. I’ve already told you the story of our Madame Meilland or “Peace” roses and our Pierre Ronsard climbing roses. Yesterday morning, as we were having breakfast in the kitchen, which looks out into the courtyard in front of the house, I realised that the stone wall next to the front gate was looking a little bare. We discussed the possibilities and decided climbing roses would be the perfect solution.

So in the afternoon we went to visit the botanic gardens at Prieuré d’Orchaise, only 11 kilometers from Blois, who were selling rose bushes this weekend. This delightful 3 hectare park overlooking the luxuriant Cisse Valley, is next to a Romanesque bell-tower built in 1060 by monks from Marmoutiers. The garden’s founder, Hubert Treuille, has collected more than 2,000 varieties of plants from across the globe.

When we got there, we spoke to the very friendly and helpful gardener and told him what we wanted – a hardy climbing rose that would have lots of flowers very quickly. He suggested a variety called Saharan whose flowers change from pink to abricot as they mature. I didn’t find the potted example he showed us particularly appealing so he sent us to look at a well in the garden where the roses were growing. It was so stunning that we immediately went back and bought it as it was the only one left!

We thought we should also have a climbing rose outside the front fence (well, it’s a stone wall really) on the second disused gate that we’ve just repainted. We initially thought we’d had to replace it altogether but after treating it for rust, repainting it and removing the black plastic from behind, it is as good as new and ready for our new Pierre Ronsard. We then got the gardener to explain how to prune our different rose bushes so that they would be as lovely as his.

I knew you had to cut off the faded roses but wasn’t sure exactly how. So he showed us that below the flower, you first have a cluster of three leaves, then five, so you should always cut just (on a slant) above the cluster of five. That way, you’re encouraging the new wood to grow. When you’re pruning in the spring, you have to cut off the dead wood and prune drastically.

After we’d bought our roses we then went to visit the rest of the garden which is very lovely and has a beautiful waterlily pond with cypresses in the background. We had just missed the peonies but will make sure we go there earlier next year during the peony weekend and buy a few bushes. And we’ll definitely be visiting regularly to get helpful advice from the gardener who even gave us his phone number!

Jardin Botanique du Prieuré d’Orchaise

Place de l’Eglise

41190 Orchaise

Video (in French) of the gardener talking about his peonies

http://prieure.orchaise.free.fr/

Open from 3 pm to 7 pm from 1^st April to 31^st October

Adults: €6 (free for children under 12).

Cooking, Cycling, Loire Valley, Uncategorized

Summer Mushrooms in the Loire

June 3, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 8 Comments

We really have had a beautiful week in the Loire. Everyone in France this year, particularly in Paris, has been complaining about the awful spring weather and it was no better in Blois. But when we came back last week, the potatoes we’d planted in the rain two weeks before were looking very happy (and so were the surrounding weeds of course!) and the vegetation, especially the roses, was flourishing.

The good weather stayed with us and as a result, we were able to go cycling several times. Our last excursion was to the nearest village, Chouzy sur Cisse, about 5 kilometers away, in the opposite direction from the centre of Blois. Being on our bikes, we were able to take a dirt road running parallel to the main highway along the Loire, thus avoiding the 70 kph road I’m not so keen on.

The entrance to the village is not particularly attractive, but in the centre there’s a butcher (very handy for barbecues), a baker, a little supermarket and a hairdresser. I had seen a sign saying “plan d’eau” which generally means a small lake so we kept going and, to our surprise, came across a lovely little stretch of water next to the Cisse. The river itself is very picturesque with yellow waterlilies and water irises.

We followed the path along the edge and found ourselves cycling along the river past lots of small market gardens. One even had a whole row of lilies-of-the-valley. Relationnel consulted the map and said we could take Rue Beaumont. I groaned inwardly because the name means “beautiful rise” which obviously means cycling uphill. We were rewarded though because it took us onto a flat though bumpy road through the forest.

Suddenly Relationnel stopped and said, “Not sure what it is but maybe … “. I continued cycling but soon realised he wasn’t following. I looked back to see him waving frantically. “You should get out the camera”, he said as I got closer. What a find! Several large fresh summer cep mushrooms. Now one of the reasons we chose Blois for our retirement is its proximity to a state forest so we can pick mushrooms in the autumn, so finding such wonderful specimens in summer is extremely promising! We cooked them in the frypan and ate them with our côte de boeuf!

France, Loire Valley, Uncategorized

Our Pierre Ronsard Roses

May 31, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 2 Comments

Yesterday, we went to visit Mr and Mrs Previous Owner in their new modern home about 20 minutes from Closerie Falaiseau and I learnt that the climbing roses on our original Renaissance railing are called Pierre Ronsard after one of France’s most famous poets who was born in 1524 and died in 1585 in the Loire Valley, the year after our house was built. One of his best known odes begins “Mignonne, allons voir si la rose …”

The yellow rose in yesterday’s post is called Madame Antoine Meilland developed by a French rose cultivator, Francis Meilland, in the late 1930s and named after his mother. It’s better known as “Peace” in English and is an interesting story. To quote Wikipedia:

In early 1945 Meilland wrote to Field Marshal Alan Brooke (later Viscount Alanbrooke), the principal author of the master strategy that won the Second World War, to thank him for his key part in the liberation of France and to ask if Brooke would give his name to the rose. Brooke declined saying that, though he was honored to be asked, his name would soon be forgotten and a much better and more enduring name would be “Peace”.

The adoption of the trade name “Peace” was publicly announced in the United States on 29 April 1945 by the introducers, Messrs Conard Pyle Co.. This was the very day that Berlin fell, officially considered the end of the Second World War in Europe. Later that year Peace roses were given to each of the delegations at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco, each with a note which read:

“We hope the ‘Peace’ rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace.”

Cycling, Loire Valley, Uncategorized

La Loire à Vélo – Loire by Bike #1

May 30, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 7 Comments

Loire by Bike is part of the EuroVelo bike route from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. We’ve already covered quite a bit of the Loire route as well as a small portion in Germany, in the Rhine Valley, between Basel and Lake Constance, on our way back from Croatia last year. In another post, I talked about cycling around Angers and crossing the river on barge, which I thought was rather exciting!

Yesterday, we did a portion closer to home, setting out from Closerie Falaiseau and going as far as Menars, a 30 K round trip altogether. The first 7 kilometres are not too wonderful, as you have to take the main road that runs along the Loire Valley, with the first 3 K at 70 kph. After that, the speed limit drops to 50 kph but it probably takes the cars another couple of kilometres to really drop speed. After that, you can take the “mail” as they call the esplanade used as a parking lot on the waterfront in Blois and Amboise.

Next, you have another couple of kilometres along a “shared bike/car route” with very little traffic, flanked by houses with climbing roses on one side and a grass verge on the other. Then once you reach the riding school, motorised traffic is prohibited and you cycle along a bitumen road mainly through a lovely shady forest. Next time, we’ll put the bikes on our Thule bike carrier on the back of the car and start at the end of the “mail”.

At one stage, we cycled under a lovely old stone railway bridge no longer in use (it’s cut off completely at one end) and many clusters of water irises in the little stream on the left of the cycle path. The path wasn’t over busy, but we still passed other cyclists, often with children and lots of joggers and strollers. There are also benches along the way to rest.

When we got to Menars, we rode into the village, which has a very large castle built in the 17th and 18th century with very dry looking grounds. Unfortunately, since it was Monday and a public holiday to boot, there were no bars open so we had to make do with our usual water and biscuits then ride all the way back to Blois for an apéritif at Le Penalty. After that, we rode home, stopping on the way at L’Embarcadère to reserve a riverside table.

When we got back, our first yellow rose was out!

Aussie in France