Divine

Loire

In our Magazine

Montlouis

In the gentle embrace of the Loire’s left bank, Montlouis awakens the senses like a Rameau prelude, crystalline and precise—its silences as telling as its notes. Louis XI, residing nearby in Amboise in the late 15th century, likely knew the hills just across the river, though he could scarcely have imagined the silent labor of centuries that would shape these flinty slopes into a sanctuary for the Chenin blanc grape. Montlouis, often compared to its more extroverted sibling on the opposite bank, Vouvray, offers instead something intimate, even elusive: wines that don’t clamor but hum—dry, silken, or softly effervescent, yet always carried by a cool mineral clarity born from tuffeau limestone and sandy perruches. Since obtaining its own AOC in 1938, it has shed its shadow status with quiet pride. The local méthode traditionnelle lends a firm hand to its sparkling expressions, while late harvests whisper honeyed secrets when autumn fog settles along the Cher. The best hour? Just before dusk in late September, when the light folds into the vines, and a flute of pétillant reflects the golden silence of the landscape.
Explore other stories and secrets woven into the Loire’s more discreet vineyards in our companion pieces.