Loire wines: where to taste it at Christmas markets

Loire wines cover the vineyards of the river and its tributaries, from Nantes muscadet to Sancerre, in dry or sweet whites, reds, rosés and sparkling wines. At the Christmas markets of the Loire Valley, it is the neighbouring winegrower who runs the chalet, and the bottle is bought along with the rillettes, the goat’s cheeses or the oysters from the stalls next door.

Muscadet, Vouvray, Sancerre: the wine at each market

The vineyard changes with the river. Near the estuary, Nantes sells muscadet sur lie, and Saint-Nazaire muscadet and gros-plant, to drink with oysters and seafood. Cholet offers Coteaux du Layon, La Roche-sur-Yon the wines of the Fiefs Vendéens. In Touraine, Tours puts forward Vouvray, still or sparkling, and Chinon, with rillettes and PDO goat’s cheeses. Blois and Chartres sell wines from the Loire Valley.

Further upstream, Nevers serves the whites of the Centre-Loire, Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre, and Châteauroux the wines of Reuilly and Quincy. Higher up the Loire, Roanne sells the wines of the Côte Roannaise and Saint-Étienne those of the Côtes du Forez.

Which Loire wines to try at a Christmas market

The Loire Valley vineyard reads as five areas, from the Nantes vineyard, with its oceanic climate, to Anjou, Saumur, Touraine and the Centre-Loire. More than twenty grape varieties grow there, among them the melon de Bourgogne of muscadet, chenin, sauvignon and cabernet franc, the region’s leading red grape. Reds, whites, rosés and crémants: every colour turns up at the chalet.

The bottle is bought to take away. In Tours, even the mulled wine is local: it is made with Touraine gamay.

Loire wines in pictures