(Loire Valley) Long perceived as light and pleasant wines – those that are released without ceremony as an aperitif and less for a food-wine pairing – the products of the third wine-growing region of France, after the regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy have experienced a gain in esteem and popularity in recent years.
In the small village of Chargé, on the banks of the Loire, more than 500 years of winemaking history have stood the test of time and trends. The Plou family, who have been producing from father to son, have managed their estate on the same fertile plots since 1508. “I always wanted to be a winemaker. Our roots inevitably lead us back to where we started,” says Mathieu Plou, who runs the vineyard with his brother and father, and one day, he hopes, with his own descendants.
From 31 hectares of vines in 1991, Plou
Considered one of the region’s major producers, Plou
Loire wines have been talked about “normally, all the time”, assesses Mathieu Plou. In recent years, however, we have observed a craze for the product which it attributes to climate change.
Despite the upheavals affecting the wine world, the wines of the Loire Valley are doing well with a product whose alcohol content is still around 12 and 13% and offered at “reasonable” prices which are around in averages 8 euros, so many arguments which are increasingly appealing to today’s consumers.
Further south, in Lye, in the communes of Berry, Sébastien Vaillant produces an organic wine. It is in the Loge à Perrin, camped in the heart of its vineyards, that he welcomes us with some local specialties, including a dish of Berry lentils, goat cheese and rillettes. Restored in 1996, this 19th-century cabin once served as a refuge for winegrowers and grape harvesters.
Global warming is a situation that we are all experiencing, he says with nuance: “We no longer have the coolness we used to have, but more so than in other regions. Today, wine consumption is based on supple wines with less acidity, especially among young people. Our wines tend to please for these reasons. » We’re not necessarily looking for sugar, he says, but for what we call sweetness: roundness, “fat” and a refreshing side that makes us want to have a second or third glass.
The new generations also appreciate white, unlike the previous generation who had a weakness for red, he notes. Whites represent 44% of the region’s production, followed by rosé (25.2%), red (18.2%) and sparkling (12.4%), according to the Loire Valley wine group, whereas until now, the region was mainly distinguished by its reds.
Loire wine has earned its stripes and is on the Saturday table and prestigious meals with certain wines for aging such as those from Chinon, Pouilly-sur-Loire, Bourgueil or Vouvray, notes Séverine Beauchet, from the wine merchant Les Belles Caves, in Tours. The region also counts on a diversified offer to attract consumers.
Despite its trendy characteristics, the Loire Valley does not have the luxury of basing itself on the success of its terroir, according to wine growers.
“How do we envision what’s next? This is a big question that everyone is asking themselves, continues Mathieu Plou. What we had planned over 30 or 40 years was done in 10 years. This is much faster than all our predictions. »
A vine lives 60 to 70 years with good care, he explains. Should we tear it up while it is doing well and replant a new one, with no guarantee that it will be adapted to the climate in 40 years? Perhaps we need to change the grape varieties or simply the rootstocks, but what do we do with the appellation standards in this case? Watering would compensate for drought, but it is prohibited to water your vines under AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) standards. Furthermore, where do we get water in a context where it is becoming increasingly scarce? asks the winegrower again. “We have solutions, but we have not yet found THE solution,” he concludes.
