Nestled between limestone cliffs and aromatic woodlands, Saumur Puy-Notre-Dame carries the echo of medieval Loire’s quiet grandeur—an appellation that whispers more than it shouts. In 1450, the village of Le Puy-Notre-Dame became a pilgrimage site when Charles VII gifted a fragment of the Virgin’s belt to its collegiate church, setting a spiritual tone that still lingers among the vines. Today, that same sense of reverence shapes the vineyards surrounding the hilltop village, where Cabernet Franc finds one of its most expressive Loire incarnations. These reds, born of tuffeau-rich soils and schist-laced subsoils, blend structure and finesse with a stony, lifted elegance. It’s tempting to reduce them to rustic charm, yet their aging potential and mineral poise offer silent retorts to every cliché. Aged a minimum of 12 months, often in traditional caves troglodytiques, they carry just a whisper of undergrowth, violet, and graphite—a mirror to their monastic roots. Come when October’s mist softens the valleys: the village bell tolls through the fog, the harvest is in, and time seems to exhale. Continue your journey through the Loire’s hidden layers in the articles below.
In the hushed salons of wine conversation, where Burgundy and Bordeaux reign like old monarchs, few whisper about the strange elegance of Loire’s lesser-known communes.…
Between Tours and Angers, the city of Saumur is located on one of the most beautiful loops in the Loire Valley. Saumur is particularly famous…