Loire Valley

The Loire Valley is France's most diverse wine region — stretching for over 1,000 kilometres from the Atlantic coast through Muscadet and Anjou to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume near Burgundy, producing an extraordinary range of styles. Muscadet — made from Melon de Bourgogne on granite soils near the Atlantic — is crisp, saline and mineral, at its best from wines aged on lees (sur lie). Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume are the Loire's most celebrated whites: pure, mineral Sauvignon Blanc of precision and elegance quite different from New World styles. Vouvray and Montlouis, made from Chenin Blanc, range from bone-dry to richly sweet and can age for decades. At Wines Direct we love the Loire's diversity.