Please help us pick a wine cave to tour in VOUVRAY this June!
 

Hi Everybody,

We have decided to tour one of the wine caves in Vouvray, because it is the most convenient for this trip. (Alas, Chinon and Saumur will be too far for us this time.)

Can anyone recommend one particular wine cave/estate in VOUVRAY which provided a great tour and tasting? Also, we prefer sparkling Vouvray, which should help narrow this down a bit.

Here are the ones mentioned for Vouvray:

1) Clos Baudoin;

2) Chateau de Valmar...wonderful 17th c. gardens and produces good wine; and

3)Chateau de Montcontour(sits up high and quite majestically above the valley road outside Vouvray).

Thanks for your help!

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hello? Vouvray...anyone?

Hi Betty,

My wife and I were in the Loire this Easter and drove around Vouvray.

I was looking for a cellar tour or similar and as I hadn't booked anything or planned enough, we just drove around the town.

Chateau Moncontour was the only property we came across which was clearly setup for tourist visitors.
There was also the local growers co-operative who had a retail operation which offered tastings, but this was a modern retail unit rather than a cellar.

Might be worth getting more details from the property themselves as we couldn't find the entrance at Moncontour and ended up driving around their bottling line (or at least it felt like it).

We have had a few bottles of Moncontour since we got back and it is perfectly acceptable, although I am sure there are much better examples of Vouvray to be had from some of the smaller producers.

btw. Chateau Moncontour's wine is very widely stocked in the local supermarkets if you want to stock up.

Quick further point.

Compared to other wine regions we have visited (notably Alsace and Champagne), Vouvray seemed far less tourist-oriented, and finding vinuous entertainment was more of a struggle than the wine villages of Alsace where it sometimes seems like there is nothing other than wine outlets.

Dear Betty:

We visited a Vouvray grower about 15 years ago: Vincent Raimbault in Chancay. Small cave with very nice Chenin blanc. I recently ran across his wine in San Francisco, so he is still around. Sorry I can't tell you how to arrange a visit, but I thought maybe this info would help a little.

We had a really great tour at the Caves Monmousseau in Montrichard. It wasn't in Vouvray, but it ended with tasting their sparkling Vouvray wine. Montrichard is a nice little town, too; we had an excellent lunch there.
http://www.monmousseau.com/

If you click on my name, you will get a link to the trip report I recently posted.

As I mentioned, we were lucky that we got our tour in English; I don't know how much the guide would have translated for us if she was giving it in French.

Steve and Michelle,

Thanks for sharing your Vouvray experiences. I know I toured a wine cave back in 1988, but it was arranged by my school program, so I have no recollection of the estate name.

Nonna: Thanks! I will look up the Montrichard estate you mentioned. Actually that's a great option since we will be in Chenonceau...very close.

A sparkling toast to all of you!
--Betty

Dear Betty:

I remembered Vincent Rambault because he was VERY handsome!!!

Michelle,

Well, that's always a plus! But...was he more memorable than the wine?

We had a vouray tonight, a wonderful wine sweet wine from the small district of Touraine. Never visited there but the best producers are Huet, Foreau, Allias, ch. Moncontour, Brisbarre,
Fouguet,ch. Gaudrelle and a few more.

What a coincidence, Cigale!

P.S. The Moncontour estate is quite lovely. Will google the others...Merci beaucoup!