France | The revival of Loire wines

(Loire Valley) Long perceived as light and pleasant wines – those that are released without ceremony as an aperitif and less for a food-wine pairing – the products of the third wine-growing region of France, after the regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy have experienced a gain in esteem and popularity in recent years.

In the small village of Chargé, on the banks of the Loire, more than 500 years of wine history resists centuries and trends. The Plou family, who produce from father to son, have managed their estate on the same fertile plots since 1508. “I always wanted to be a winegrower. The roots inevitably take us back to where we started,” philosopher Mathieu Plou, who runs this vineyard with his brother and his father, and one day, he hopes, with his own descendants.

From 31 hectares of vines in 1991, Plou & Fils now has 108: a success that the winemaker attributes to his grandfather who had the idea of ​​opening a small tasting cellar on the side of the road. The majority of production is today intended for private customers and 15% for export or bistronomy. “We don’t do big tables,” he admits. We tend to have sharing wines that are easy to drink and that we don’t hesitate to take out to celebrate. »

Considered one of the major producers in the region, Plou & Fils produces around thirty different vintages – reds, whites, rosés and sparkling wines – from six main grape varieties, the most representative of which are Cabernet Franc and Chenin.

An unpretentious wine

Loire wines are talked about “normally, all the time”, assesses Mathieu Plou. In recent years, however, we have observed a craze for the product which he attributes to climate change.

Despite the upheavals affecting the wine world, the wines of the Loire Valley are doing well with a product whose alcohol level is still around 12 and 13% and offered at “reasonable” prices which are around in average 8 euros, so many arguments which are increasingly appealing to today’s consumers.

Further south, in Lye, in the communes of Berry, Sébastien Vaillant produces an organically grown wine. It is in the Loge à Perrin, camped in the heart of its vineyards, that he welcomes us with some local specialties, including a dish of Berry lentils, goat cheese and rillettes. Restored in 1996, this 19th century cabin^e century once served as a refuge for winegrowers and grape harvesters.

Global warming is a situation that we are all experiencing, he says with nuance: “We no longer have the coolness we used to have, but more so than in other regions. Today, wine consumption is based on supple wines with less acidity, especially among young people. Our wines tend to please for these reasons. » We’re not necessarily looking for sugar, he says, but for what we call sweetness: roundness, “fatness” and a refreshing side that makes us want to have a second or third glass.

The new generations also appreciate white, unlike the previous generation who had a weakness for red, he notes. Whites also represent 44% of the region’s production, followed by rosé (25.2%), red (18.2%) and sparkling (12.4%), depending on the grouping of wines. of the Loire Valley, whereas until now, the region was mainly distinguished by its reds.

A future to rebuild

Loire wine has gained stripes and is on the Saturday table and prestigious meals with certain wines for aging such as those from Chinon, Pouilly-sur-Loire, Bourgueil or Vouvray, notes Séverine Beauchet, from the wine merchant Les Belles Caves, in Tours. The region also counts on a diversified offer to attract consumers.

Despite its trendy characteristics, the Loire Valley does not have the luxury of basing itself on the success of its terroir, according to wine growers.

“How can we envisage the future? This is a big question that everyone is asking themselves, continues Mathieu Plou. What we had planned over 30 or 40 years was done in 10 years. This is much faster than all our predictions. »

A vine lives between 60 and 70 years with good care, he explains. Should we tear it up while it is doing well to replant a new one, with no guarantee that it will be adapted to the climate in 40 years? Perhaps we need to change the grape varieties or simply the rootstocks, but what do we do, in this case, with the appellation standards? Watering would compensate for drought, but it is prohibited to water your vines under AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) standards. Furthermore, where do we get water in a context where it is becoming increasingly scarce? asks the winegrower again. “We have solutions, but we have not yet found THE solution,” he concludes.

This trip was organized in collaboration with Atout France. Part of the costs of this trip were paid by the Val de Loire Regional Tourism Committee and Air Canada, who had no right to review the content of this report.

Multiply the assemblies

The Loire region is distinguished by its grape varieties – 24 in total, the main ones being Cabernet Franc, Chenin, Sauvignon and Burgundy melon. This diversity allows it to multiply the blends which assert themselves elegantly on better-known terroirs such as Sancerre, Muscadet, Saumur, Bourgueil, Pouilly and Chinon.

“What gives French wines their richness are the different terroirs,” explains Séverine Beauchet. However, the Loire Valley has a diversity of soils which allows a variety of expressions of wines from the same grape variety. In clay-limestone soil, for example, Sauvignon will have light, fresh citrus notes. On flint soils, we will obtain exotic aromas and more fat on the palate.

Consult the Loire Valley wine route