Trip to Loire Valley and Champagne - Day 4

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.

Taking a short ride we arrived at Chateau de Chenonceau, the royal residence built in 1513 by Katherine Briconnay. This chateau was built on River Cher, a special and rare design, and had a long history associated with women, administered and protected by the likes of Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici. But before going for a guided tour with our own private guide, we headed to the restaurant L’orangerie inside the chateau.

Driving through the private pathway so we could directly access to the restaurant without going through the public entrance and escorted by a security guard, we were treated like special VIP. Located in the garden, the restaurant was quite busy with all the tourists but we got a good table overseeing the garden, in an air-conditioned tent under the tree shades.

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.