Just a few miles east of Tours, the ancient capital of France, is Vouvray, a little town on the northern banks of the river Loire that has long been identified with the Chenin Blanc wine. So closely associated with its wine, its charcuterie and its unique geographical position, Vouvray stretches alongside the river and into the nearby ancient cliffs.
During the Turonian age, ninety million years ago, this region was a tropical sea and the resultant layered tuffeau is littered with the fossilised remains of corals, oysters and sponges from the era. This limestone is a relatively soft stone and easy to cut which explains why, until the 20th century, most homes in Vouvray were troglodyte cave dwellings. Dug into the precipices adjacent to the wide river, they offered their inhabitants constant warmth and shelter. Even today, many houses back into the falaises and it is noticeable that the majority of houses independent of the rock face have been built relatively recently. When the caves were excavated, they sloped up from the riverside to ease the transportation of the large stone blocks into the water below. There, the stone would remain, sometimes for several years, to weather and harden before being shipped along the waterway and used to build the magnificent chateaux that proliferate this district of the Loire. Until the advent of railways, the river was a major transport route and at Orleans, the Briard Canal connected the area to Paris and northern Europe. Stone as well as wine and other produce was traded along the river to distant French destinations and beyond. Vouvray’s wines were highly valued in the Netherlands and northern Europe and its stone went even further afield, most notably to New York for the construction of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.
The caves created by the stone mining were not only effective living spaces for man and beast, but also perfect for the production of wine. Visiting the Cave des Producteurs de Vouvray is akin to visiting an underground village with its 2.5 kilometres of interconnecting lanes and pathways all lined with racks of maturing wine. Inside this labyrinth, a natural temperature of 12-13 degrees, year round, ensures a perfect climate for fermentation. Manager, Bernard Aguillon affectionately explains that the co-operative is one of vignerons rather than viticultures; the difference being that its members are all involved in the production of the wine from field to table rather than simply growing grapes. The forty adhérants are shareholders in the Cave with joint responsibility for the management and financial supervision of the two million bottles produced each year. Each vigneron undertakes to offer at least 50% of their annual crop to the co-operative and is paid according to the quality of the grape provided; its character is established through an independent blind tasting. If the fruit is deemed too poor, the Cave is not obliged to purchase the harvest. Such a rigorous system is unusual among co-operatives and M Aguillon is passionate in his belief that it has ensured the consistent superiority of wine produced by the Cave, which is reflected in its sales figures. After the co-operative has taken its share of production, the vignerons have the right to sell the remainder of their yield under their own name to other clients.
The Vouvray vineyards are situated above the limestone cliffs, spread over eight communes on the slopes and plateaux dominating the town. Saint Martin, a former Roman legionnaire, is accredited with establishing winemaking in Vouvray to supply the monastery at nearby Marmoutier in the 5th Century. At the time, this patron saint of wine-makers was the bishop of Tours and legend has it that he also discovered the advantages of annual pruning following his observation of a donkey chewing on the vines.
Today, pruning takes place from November through to April and new growth is also kept in check throughout the summer. The Chenin Blanc in Vouvray is harvested late – sometimes in successive tries until November and depending on the sugar content, the wines produced may be dry, semi-dry, sparkling or sweet. Although most exported Vouvray wine is still, within France, the appellation is predominantly known for its traditionally produced sparkling wine which some connoisseurs argue is as good as any champagne.
Visiting Château Gaudrelle, with fourth generation vigneron, Alexandre Montmousseau, he enthuses about the variety of his terroir, describing the character of each wine produced. The prevailing wind in Vouvray is from the Atlantic and blows up the river’s estuary and into the valleys branching north from the Loire. Depending on whether vines are facing east or west, they receive either the morning or afternoon sun and those facing east, will be used for the dryer, still wines. Those that get the later sun, tend to have a higher sugar content and are used for either a pétillant or moelleux wine. This will depend on the degree of noble rot that attacks ripe, undamaged white wine grapes. Given the right weather, the fungus can result in extremely sweet grapes which look disgusting but have undergone a complex transformation that makes them capable of producing very fine, sweet and long lasting wines.
Although, like M Montmousseau, most winemakers today are monoculturist, historically, pig farming was also a common occupation and charcuterie is the other famous product from Vouvray. The traiteur, Hardouin, has been making the regional rillons and rillettes for more than a century and a selection of their meats are a common sight on local menus. Goats cheese is another speciality and between the town’s charcuterie, cheese and wines, the local gastronomy would be difficult to surpass. As an antidote to the rich culinary experience, this year sees the extension of cycle routes along the banks of the Loire as well as footpaths based on the travels of Saint Martin to help visitors burn off any excesses.
Nevertheless, it has to be the rich, honey-coloured wines that remain the biggest attraction of this little town, with their variety and character as interesting as their producers.
© Judith Cameron