Today we went to St-Nicolas de Bourgueil to begin our first wine tasting, visiting Domaine Frederic Mabileau. The Mabileau family had been working in the region since 1620, and over 300 years later, inspired by his father Jean-Paul, Frederic started to cultivate vines and make their own wines in 1988. With the rich diversity of soil, Frederic studied the different terroirs to create his own individual line of wines.
Arriving at the family estate, where Frederic's parents are still living, we were greeted by the pretty manager, and after a brief introduction to the domaine, we tasted five wines from the property, including Chenin du Puy, a Chenin from Saumur, and four other Cabernet Franc from the St-Nicolas de Bourgueil and Bourgueil AOC, each with different characters.
Les Rouilleres is a simple and easy-drinking wine where it all started. Racines is a wine from Bourgueil AOC where Frederic's grandfather planted the vines 45 years ago. Coutures, from St-Nicolas de Bourgueil, is more elegant and silky, and Eclipse is the richest of all which are not made every year. Personally I like Eclipse the most so decided to buy a bottle of the 2009 vintage.
Then we move to Ingrandes de Touraine, where we were having lunch at the fascinating restaurant of Vincent cuisinier de campagne. Vincent has the philosophy to take the fresh, local and seasonal delicacies to the taste buds, and everything is homemade, even the bread. In his garden, he grew herbs, chickens, rabbits and other vegetables which are used for the dishes.
Taking a tour around his garden and seeing all the fresh produce, we began to feel hungry but before the meal, we were also shown the caves underneath, where it used to be an excavation for stone. Returning to his house, the nice and warm decor made us all feel at home. Ordering a 1997 Chinon to pair, we all enjoyed very much the food, and I particularly enjoyed the lapin which was so tender and juicy. I would also rate this as the best meal we had in this whole trip.
Feeling a bit hyper having a hearty meal and good wine, we proceeded to the next destination - Chateau de Villandry. It is a the last great castles of the Loire built during the Renaissance. The architecture may not be particularly impressive, but the charm comes from the amazing gardens, making this one of the jewels of the UNESCO Heritage.
There are seven special gardens in Villandry, with the Ornamental Garden showing different patterns, the Woods providing a beautiful panorama over the gardens, the Water Garden centred around a large pond, the Sun Garden with oranges and yellows, the Maze offering lovely hide-and-seek in the hedge, the Herb Garden devoted to aromatic and cooking, as well as the Vegetable Garden creating the impression of a chessboard.
With some good exercise walking around the enormous garden and under the bright sunshine, we all felt a bit thirsty so we moved to our next tasting - Domaine Pierre Sourdais. Located in Cravant-les-Coteaux, we drove through a forest before emerging in this small village. Greeted by Pierre himself, we had a short tour of his chai, getting a glimpse of his artistic side with each big barrels having an engraving of a character in his daughter's name along with a step in the viticulture.
However, it was nothing compared with what we were shown next. Going down into his underground 'museum', which he took over 30 years to build, the path was built to illustrate the word 'PS'. The centre of the cellar leads in four directions, referring to the four elements, and there are also different art pieces demonstrating how Pierre's life is interweaved with wine. We all could clearly feel the passion, and how he wanted to make this his life's project.
Taking a lift up to his tower we had a good view of the vineyards, then going back to the tasting room and started sampling the wines, which are all organic and made from Cabernet Franc. We had a rare white made from the variety, Les Cornuelles, and then a sparkling rose Tan a Bulles from the traditional method.
For the reds, Tradition is a fruity varietal demonstrating typical characters, Reserve Stanislas which are made from old vines and Les Boulais with the vines growing on silex soil. Unlike my friends I drank all the wines and not spitting any, prompting Pierre to make a joke to give me more wines, but from the spitton! We all had a good laugh and I also bought a Les Boulais 2010 to take back home.
Leaving the interesting Pierre, we drove back to our hotel in Chinon to take a brief rest before dinner, at the nearby Les Annees 30. A famous gastronomy restaurant in town, it provides a very comfortable atmosphere, and with the equally delicious food, we had a great evening, further gaining more weight, and concluded our second day of the trip.
Today we checked out from our hotel in
Chinon and went further upriver, to Vouvray and then Sancerre. Saying goodbye
to the friendly owner of Agnes Sorel and leaving the comfortable room behind,
we took about an hour drive before arriving at the first tasting of the day –
Domaine Champalou in Vouvray.
Greeted by Catherine Champalou herself, we
got to know how this estate was started. The Champalou family had been working
in the Vouvray wine business for many years, with Catherine and her
husband Didier both coming from winemaking families. In 1983, they decided to
set up their own estate, to be free from the families to make their own organic
wines. 
Catherine showed us her estate inside out,
and we visited the cellars where stainless steel vats, oak barrels, and
gyropalette had been producing good quality white and sparkling wines, before
exploring deeper into the underground where the best wines were made and
stored. Returning to the tasting room, we all could not wait to try the Chenin.
There were four different wines we tried,
first with the Brut Champalou, a refreshing sparkling made using traditional
method. Next was the simple yet delicious Champalou, which had a very high value
for money. Le Portail was a more full-bodied white showing good potential and
finally we finished with the Trie de Vendange, which was sweet but balancing well
with acidity to make it really heavenly! I ended up also buying a bottle of the
Champalou 2013 and a Trie de Vendange 2003.
Then we moved outside to the vineyards, to
enjoy the sunshine and looked at how the grapes were growing. Harvest would be
started in a few week times, and the conditions in Vouvray were favorable
according to Catherine. We also met Didier, who was a bit shy, and Celine,
their daughter who is gradually taking up the management of the estate, before
heading to Chenonceau.
The food was all beautifully rendered and
tasted gorgeous, and unlike what one would expect from an ‘exclusive’
restaurant located in a tourist spot. We had a relaxing meal, and then our
friendly Chinese tour guide came to pick us up. She (I forgot her name) was
from Beijing and came to study in France, but would be going back home in
couple of weeks. 
She explained to us clearly the history of
the chateau, and the stories of the various women who inhibited the property,
from how Henry II offered it to his mistress Diane de Poitiers, the fight
between Diane and the queen Catherine de Medici on the chateau, the ‘black
room’ where Louise de Lorraine kept to herself when her husband Henry III died
in an assassination, and how Louise Dupin successfully saved the chateau from
destruction during the Revolution.
With all these stories as background, it
helped bring in a better perspective when we toured around the chateau, and our
guide also helped to open doors to balcony so we could take some ‘exclusive’
photos on the beautiful gardens outside. Spending a nice stroll around not only
helped enrich our knowledge in the history, it also allowed us to do some
exercise to burn all the good food and wine we had so far in the trip.
We further moved upriver afterwards, now
heading for Sancerre and our last stop in the Loire Valley. Along the way there
were many forests and with dusk falling there were some wild deer coming out to
graze near the edge of the forest. After two hours we arrived at Sancerre, and
checked into a very nice hotel Mont Damnes. Having dinner inside the hotel, we
retired early after a long ride and anxiously awaiting the visit to one of the
most famous names of the region tomorrow.
