Ch 6 The Center-Loire

• *Lorraine
• Champagne
• Alsace
• Loire Valley
• Bourgogne
• *Jura
• *Savoie
• Beaujolais
• *Bugey
• *Lyonnais
• Bordeaux
• Rhone Valley
• Southwest
• Provence
• Languedoc
• Roussillon
• Corsica
• Note: * not a major region
• 

False: It refers to the center of France

• Loire river between Orléans and Nevers
• Cher river, near Bourges
• Between the Cher and Indre Rivers
• 

• Sancerre
• Coteaux du Giennois
• Pouilly-Fumé
• Pouilly-sur-Loire

• Reuilly
• Quincy
• Menetou-Salon

Châteaumeillant

True: 82% of them are crisp whites from Sauvignon Blanc

True

• Subsoils (2): Kimmeridgian and Portlandian chalks
• Topsoils (4): Terres blanches (Kimmeridgian marl), Cailottes (Portlandian limestone), Silex, aka Chailloux (Flint), Sandy gravels

• Caillotes: "Kai-yotes", means clots
• Silex: "See-ex", means flint
• Chailloux: "Sai-you", local name for Silex in Pouilly Fumé

Continental

• White (2): Sauvignon Blanc, Chasselas
• Grey (2): Sauvignon Gris, Pinot Gris
• Red (2): Gamay, Pinot Noir

• True: No evidence has yet been found that the Bituriges Cubi Celtic tribe of Gaul were already growing the grapevine prior to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC
• Note: Winemaking further expanded with the advent of Christianity

True

True: Producers sought high-yielding grapes to meet the demands of Paris

True: however, quantity remained the focus

When manpower decreased due to 2 world wars. Lesser vineyards were ripped out and AOC designations were achieved.

True: Menetou-Salon and Reuilly AOCs lead in new plantings are experiencing a golden age

• AOC: 1998
• Départements: Loiret, Nièvre
• Location: 14 villages, mostly on the right bank of the Loire river
• Size: total: 700 ha/1,730 acres, vineyards: 200 ha/494 acres
• Yield: white: 65 hl/ha, 4.6 tons/acre; rosé: 63 hl/ha, 4.5 tons/acre; red: 59 hl/ha, 4.2 tons/acre
• Blend: 50% white: 100% Sauvignon Blanc; 30% red: min 20% Pinot Noir, min 20% Gamay; 20% rosé: same as red
• RS: white/rosé: < 4 g/L, red: < 2.5 g/L
• Wines: white: minerality and bright acidity, white flowers and quince; rosé: ripe peach, pepper, refreshing; red: garnet, raspberry, strawberry, spice
• Release: white/rosé: Dec 15; red: March 15
• 

• A tin-glazed pottery known as Faience ("Fay-yonce") earthenware
• Note: Gien is 50 miles east of Orléans on the Loire river
• 

• Prior to phylloxera there were 2 zones of production, near the towns of Gien and Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire ("Koon-Kor") - the gravevine was cultivated here in the 11th century.
• After phylloxera each created their own syndicate.
• They united in 1998 by the creation of the AOC.

True: separated by 100 km/62 miles and the Morvan Natural Park (which protects Giennois from storm clouds, as do the hills of Sancerre to the W/SW).

• Temperate continental: temperatures regulated by the Loire river.
• Southern parts are dryer than the north which sees 800 mm / 31 inches of rain annually.

• The Cosne ("koon") fault divides the soils of the Coteaux du Giennois into 2 sections.
• West/North (Gien): Flinty clays with pockets of chalk
• East/South (Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire): Kimmeridgian with pockets of flint
• 

• AOC: 1937
• Départements: Nièvre
• Location: 7 grape-growing villages, right bank of the Loire river; same as Pouilly-sur-Loire
• Size: total: 1,600 ha/3,953 acres, vineyards: 1,300 ha/3,212 acres
• Yield: 65 hl/ha, 4.6 tons/acre
• Blend: 100% white: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
• RS: max 4 g/L
• Wines: pale to golden yellow, citrus, herbaceous, smoky aromas of gunflint
• Release: Dec 15
• 

• French for "smoked"
• The wines of Pouilly were given this name because of the wine's smoky aromas of gunflint (some say because of the smoke-colored, grey blooom that appears on the fully ripe Sauvignon Blanc grapes)

After the 1890s phylloxera epidemic, winegrowers replanted with Sauvignon Blanc and Chasselas. To maintain distinct identities for these wines a 1923 legal judgement specified Pouilly-Fumé be used for wines from Sauvignon Blanc and Pouilly-sur-Loire for wines from Chasselas. These designations remained intact with the creation of 2 separate AOCs in 1937.

• Terres blanches (40%): Kimmeridgian marls with small oyser fossils; low permeability, slow to warm; Center of AOC, especially Pouilly-sur-Loire and Saint-Andelain
• Caillotes (40%): stony Portlandian/Oxfordian limestone; stony, warms quickly; eastern portion and west of Saint-Andelain
• Silex (aka Chailloux, 15%): flint clays; low permeability; along Loire river in Tracy-sur-Loire
• Sables (5%): sands; good drainage; southern portion around les Giararmes
• 

• Vineyards lie on the southwest perimeter of the Paris Basin with distinct soils due to multiple fault lines.
• Terres blances: more powerful, round, and exoitic, need time to open
• Caillotes: citrus, elegant, mature quickly
• Silex (aka Chailloux): white flower and gunflint, minerality, crisp acidity, terrific in their youth but age quite well

• Temperate contenental
• Temperatures regulated by the Loire river
• Hills of Sancerre provide protection from westerly winds

• South of Coteaux du Giennois
• East of Sancerre
• 29 km / 12 miles along the right bank of the Loire
• The Nohain, a small Loire tributary, crosses the northeastern corner
• 

• AOC: 1937
• Départements: Nièvre
• Location: 7 grape-growing villages, right bank of the Loire river; same as Pouilly-Fumé
• Size: vineyards: 27 ha/68 acres; lower in elevation than for Sauvignon Blanc (Pouilly-Fumé) and have sandy, siliceous soils
• Yield: 65 hl/ha, 4.6 tons/acre
• Blend: 100% white: 100% Chasselas
• RS: max 4 g/L
• Wines: light yellow with white flowers and dried fruit
• Release: Dec 15

True: Table grapes served as dessert was culinary fashion in Paris in the 1860s. Chasselas sold as table grapes was more profitable than making wine. The trend receded by the 20th century.

• AOC: white: 1936; red/rosé: 1959
• Départements: Cher
• Location: 14 villages, left bank of the Loire river
• Size: total: 3,600 ha/8,96 acres, vineyards: 3,000 ha/7,413 acres
• Yield: white: 65 hl/ha, 4.6 tons/acre; rosé: 63 hl/ha, 4.5 tons/acre; red: 59 hl/ha, 4.2 tons/acre
• Blend: white: 100% Sauvignon Blanc; rosé: 100% Pinot Noir; red: 100% Pinot Noir
• RS: white/rosé: max 4 g/L; red: max 2.5 g/L
• Wines: 80% white: terres blanches: round, age well, caillotes: peach, early maturing, silex: gunflint aromas, early maturing; 10% rosé: direct press preferred, strawberries and raspberries; 10% red: ruby, cherry, medium-bodied
• Release: white/rosé: Dec 15, red: March 15
• 

• AOC: 1959
• Départements: Cher
• Location: 10 villages, between the Cher and Loire rivers; stretches 25 km/15.5 miles from Bourges to Montigny (in Sancerre); separated from Sancerre by the Sauldre river, a Cher tributary
• Size: total: 1,100 ha/2,718 acres, vineyards: 560 ha/1,384 acres
• Yield:white: 65 hl/ha, 4.6 tons/acre; 
• Blend: white: 100% Sauvignon Blanc; rosé: 100% Pinot Noir; red: 100% Pinot Noir
• RS: white/rosé: max 4 g/L, red: max 2.5 g/L
• Wines: 66% white: yellow to goden, medium-bodied, refreshing acidity, cirtrus, floral, musk, menthol; 30% red: cherry and plum, silky tannins; 4% rosé: candy-pink to partridge-eye, balanced, tart, stone-fruit, taut acidity
• Release: white/rosé: Dec 15, red: March 15
• 

They both have a continental climate but Menetou-Salon is flatter, resulting in less favorable conditions. Menetou-Salon vineyards are exposed to southwest wines and spring frosts are an annual threat.

False: Since at least the 11th century; Charles VII (1403-1461) took an interest in the vineyards

True: they share similar terroir and grow the same grape varieties

True: However, Morogues, Parassy, and Saint-Céols are most common as they are considered the best due to their higher elevation

• AOC: 1936
• Départements: Cher, Indre
• Location: 2 villages, mostly left bank of the Cher river (Vilallin on the right bank)
• Size: total: 7600 ha/1,729 acres, vineyards: 290 ha/716 acres, <2 ha planted to Sauvignon Gris
• Yield: 65 hl/ha, 4.6 tons/acre
• Blend: white: usually 100% Sauvignon Blanc, max 10% Sauvignon Gris
• RS: max 4 g/L
• Wines: 100% white: grapefruit, melon, peach, balanced by herbal notes and minerality, light-bodied
• Release: Dec 15
• 

• Eastward-tilting plateau borded y forest to the north and east
• Topsoils: sandy gravels, sands, silty sands.
• Subsoils: chalky lake deposits (66-2.6 mya)

• Began with Celtric tribe called Bituriges Cubi.
• Some scholars say this tribe introduced grapes to the Bituriges Vivisci, a tribe from Bordeaux.

The Cistercian monks of the Beauvoir Abbey near Bourges

Semi-continental as it does receive some oceanic influence; Cher river regulates temperatures; summers are dry and hot; spring frosts problematic

True: Thriving industry for centuries

Producers formed a syndicate to rebuild decimated vineyards and focus on quality; it was the Loire Valley's first AOC

A period of stagnation and contraction due to migration of young people to the big cities; rebirth in the 1980s

• AOC: white: 1937, rosé/red: 1961
• Départements: Cher, Indre
• Location: 6 villages, both banks of the Théols and Arnon rivers and a bit on the left bank of the Cher river
• Size: total: 600 ha/1,482 acres, vineyards: 240 ha/593 acres
• Yield: white: 65 hl/ha, 4.6 tons/acre; rosé: 63 hl/ha, 4.5 tones/acres; red: 59 hl/ha, 4.2 tons/acre
• Blend: white: 100% Sauvignon Blanc; rosé: any mix of Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir
• ; red: 100% Pinot Noir
• RS: white/rosé: max 4 g/L, red: max 2.5 g/L
• Wines: 50% white: pale yellow, dry and fruity, citrus, foral, herbal, refreshing acidity; 25% rosé: saignée or diret press, pale; 25% red: cherry, raspberry, pepper, light color and body
• Release: white/rosé: Dec 15, red: March 15
• 

• Since the 7th century or before.
• King Dagobert (603-639) gave land to the Abbey of Saint Denis in the village of Reuilly.
• The Cistercian monks (the "White Monks" formed in 1098) of Beauvoir Abbey first planted Sauvignon Blanc in the 13th century.

True: most vineyards around the Arnon river on south/southeast facing slopes on shallow Kimmeridgian soil or terraces of brown sand gravels; Preuilly is on the left bank of the Cher river on lacustrine limestones

• True: several decades passed before the area was replanted
• 

• Semi-continental with some oceanic infuence.
• One of the driest areas of the Centre-Loire, first to harvest (usually Pinot Gris)

• AOC: 2010, VDQS: 1965
• Départements: Cher, Indre
• Location: 7 villages, between the Indre and Cher rivers
• Size: total: 486 ha/1,201 acres, vineyards: 80 ha/198 acres, 75% planted to Gamay
• Yield: 55 hl/ha, 3.9 tons/acre
• Blend: red: min 60% Gamay, max 40% Pinot Noir; 20% rosé: direct press, min 60% Gamay, max 15% Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir permitted
• RS: red: max 2 g/L; rosé 3 g/L
• Wines: red: ruby-garnet, raspberries, strawberries, supple tannins, minerality and pepper; 20% rosé: citrus and stone with bright acidity
• Release: Dec 15
• 

Mediolanum, meaning middle town, referencing the village's central position in France; 8 Roman roads passed by Mediolanum

• Châteaumeillant lies at the junction of the Paris Basin and the Massif Central.
• Vineyards are sandy clays and flint atop metamorphic subsoils of sandstone, gneiss, mica schist
• 

Continental; cold winds blow from the Massif Central and landscape is open towards the Atlantic Ocean; the last vineyards to be harvested in the Centre-Loire

True

• Grapes growing as early as the 6th century
• Gamay did not arriver until the end of the 18th century
• After WWII producers established a cooperative

Charolais beef and cereal crops

• Quincy: white wines; mostly left bank of the Loire river; planted on a plateau
• Châtauxmeillant: rosé and red wines; between Cher and Indre rivers; junction of Paris Basin and Massif Central
• Reuilly: white, rosé and red wines; both banks of Théols and Arnon rivers; non-contiguous