Loire Wine Itinerary: From Tours to Angers, Cellars, Spires, and Sips
Between the vineyards and spires of the Loire Valley, a glass in hand tastes suspiciously like a history lesson. One might even argue that Rabelais,…
In 1435, Angers echoed with the footsteps of René of Anjou, poet-king and wistful dreamer, as he wandered through its cobbled alleys and riverbanks, nesting his court where the Loire’s softness met intellectual fervor. Set where the Maine meets vineyards and light, the city carries a refined quietness — neither flaunting nor hiding — offering instead a tapestry of Gothic lines, slate roofs, and a rhythm somewhere between courtly and rustic. At the Château d’Angers, the Apocalypse Tapestry, a 14th-century marvel, lends a sense of measure: this is a place where time stretches in fabric and wine. While some still picture Angers as merely polite, its wines speak otherwise. Here, Chenin Blanc thrives — versatile, introspective — painting the limestone-rich schist with dry whites, noble rot-laced liquoreux, and precise sparkling cuvées. Since the edicts of the 1930s, appellations like Coteaux de l’Aubance have reminded us that elegance can have structure, and pleasure a mineral streak. In early autumn, when the vineyards blush gold and the air turns crisp along the Maine’s still edges, a slow aperitif beneath a vineyard pergola feels like proper tribute.
Follow the thread and uncover more layers of this unexpected Loire classic.
Between the vineyards and spires of the Loire Valley, a glass in hand tastes suspiciously like a history lesson. One might even argue that Rabelais,…