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In our Magazine

Tours

Tours is a city that breathes softly between the pages of French history, like the echo of a lute in a candlelit salon of the Renaissance — a melody that once played in the halftimbered quarters of the Place Plumereau. In fact, it was in 1429 that Joan of Arc, on her way to meet the Dauphin Charles, paused here—a fleeting presence that left an enduring reverence in local memory. Often seen as merely a halt between Paris and the castles along the Cher and Loire, Tours gently subverts this image with a quiet sophistication. Beyond the clichés of cobblestones and café terraces, it reveals a region where wine-making is as deeply rooted as its cathedral’s Gothic arches. At the heart of this oenological milieu lies the Touraine appellation, known for its lively Sauvignon Blancs and Cabernet Francs shaped by the limestone-rich soils and tempered by the Loire’s breath. Since the 1950s, refined cold fermentation has defined the vibrancy of its whites, preserving delicate aromas of citrus and white blossom. Autumn reveals Tours at its most sensual: sunlit vineyards burnished with gold and the hush of harvest whispering through the valley. To glimpse the essence of the Loire in a single breath, let yourself be guided by the morning mist rising off the river at Pont Wilson.
Continue the journey through the hidden faces of the Loire in our curated features below.