Loire/Chinon trip in the spring

I’m in the beginning stages of planning a 3 night trip to the Loire valley in early May and would love to hear any recommendations or advice from anyone who’s been to the area. We’ll be staying in Chinon and renting a car to get around.

The basic plan is to visit a few wineries and check out a castle or two. I have no specific plans yet. It’s a quick trip, so we won’t have time to see a lot. Restaurant/wine bar recommendations, essential wineries to visit (we love our cab franc and chenin blanc), and other resources I can use for planning are much appreciated.

Here is a link to Richard Kelly’s page. He is an MW and wrote part of the Loire section in the latest edition of the OCW. Lots of restaurant recs as well as wine information. [urlhttp://www.richardkelley.co.uk/regions.htm][/url].
Plouzeau and Couly-Duthiel both have tasting rooms in Chinon. Charles Joguet and Bernard Baudry are not far out of town.

Azay-le-Rideau: Is about a half hour away as is Vilandry http://www.chateauvillandry.fr/
Castle Amboise Presentación del castillo – Château d'Amboise and Chenonceau http://www.chenonceau.com/are both about an hour away.

We stayed in Amboise so can’t help with Chinon Restaurants

In my not-so-humble opinion, anyone who loves Chenin Blanc must visit Savennières. Accept no substitutes.

Recommended properties to visit:

  1. Domaine aux Moines. This beautiful property is run by a mother-daughter team, Monique and Tessa Laroche. The appellation is Savennières-Roche-aux-Moines, and I have enjoyed the wines over a dozen or more vintages. They warmly welcome guests.

  2. Domaine du Closel. Owner-vigneron Evelyne de Pontbriand was an English teacher in a prior life. She speaks perfect idiomatic English, has a wickedly clever sense of humor, and is very entertaining. Oh, and her Savennières is very good, too.

Thanks Mark and Robert for the information!

Domaine du Closel sounds like a great visit. Coincidentally, both Baudry and Domaine du Closel were poured at my local wine shop’s tasting this week.

+1 on Domaine du Closel. A great visit for us that Evelyne conducted, from vineyard walk-through to final sit-down tasting at the Domaine.

I will add another very nice visit, with tastings conducted inside the Domaine-owned tuffeau caves on the cliffs of Saumur was at Domaine de Filliatreau. A plus is that they had available older vintages for us to purchase at good pricing.

We did a Loire trip in 2016 staying near Vouvray (Chateau de Noizay) for two nights and near Anjou (Chateau Noirieux) for three nights.

We mixed sightseeing and wine visits for a great blend. The large chateau (Chambord, Chenonceau, etc. have a lot of info on them). A few favorites:

Wineries:

  • Huet - probably our favorite tasting, very well done, love their chenin. We couldn’t buy here as they were sold out.
  • Baumard - you can taste and buy their full line-up. There’s a lovely church in the little village steps away from the winery.
  • Epire - tasting in the cellar of the church they converted. They will give you a walking map to walk through the vineyards and along the hillside overlookoing the river. You can also buy here.

I loved the sparkling chenins when we were in the area. One of my favorites is from Domaine des Aubuisières.

Favorite Restaurant: Le Dix Septieme in Angers. Loved!

How was Chateau de Noizay? Did you dine there? If memory serves, Alfert and others(?) stayed there in the 90s and enjoyed it and they had a pretty deep Chinon cellar? I was just curious if that’s still the case.

Very historic property with amazing stained glass windows depicting the plot of the Huguenots to abduct Francois II - part of the planning was done at the chateau. Beautiful grounds to stroll in a quaint village. Nice accommodations with modern baths. We found it very unpretentious for a Relais & Chateaux. We did eat dinner there one spring evening - only one course we thought was a bit off was the “raw”rabbit roulade, otherwise we really enjoyed a mostly seafood menu that was very good. They had a pretty deep wine list - not sure about the Chinon - we had a Chidaine.
648C5752-4190-43B7-B51B-F32B67D7E65D.jpeg

Thanks Lori! And great pic. Love Chidaine.
Jason