The Loire Valley, France ..... I need ideas/intel.....

[R.O.S.S.I]

Hi all,

We have a friend who is getting married in South of France later this year and myself and my partner were thinking of road tripping it from the UK rather than flying so that we can see more of the country.

I've never been to France before so have very limited knowledge but one of our first stops will be the Loire Valley. From what we've read and what we've been told it is a beautiful area with tons of wineries. So we would ideally like to do a day of wine tasting and winery touring but then also have a bit of town for us to explore and eat and drink at.

Does anyone have any recommendations for both a) Wineries to visit in the area and b) areas/places to stay in the area for a couple nights?

 

[OG]

We stayed in Amboise about 5 years back and planning to go back hopefully later this year over summer.

For us it was perfect, a relatively small town on the banks of the Loire. A fairly decent sized chateux in the middle of the town that was good to explore and a few vineyards out of town. Some we visited were arranged via the host of the airbnb we were staying at and the 'tasting' was literally a picnic table setup outside of someone's house that was on the vineyard but for us it was great.

Amboise is also relatively close to Tours if you want to get into a bigger city, we didn't visit but only heard good things.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

Thanks OG. I had looked at Amboise so that's good to hear you had a nice time there.

I had read that Chinon and Saumer were also good places to stay aswell as Tours but was keen to hear off more people.

 

[SPG]

Buy a crap load of Sancere wine at bargain prices. It's quite a nice area tbh.

 

[molinari]

Amboise is very nice, we stayed at Hôtel Le Manoir Les Minimes.
A short drive away (15 minute drive) is Vouvrey which is fantastic for wine. Some good tours with some lovely still, sparkling and sweet wines to try.

 

[Jean-F]

My wife and I went to the wedding of a cousin’s daughter in Daumeray, Maine-et-Loire maybe 18-20 years back.
I could not be ***** to drive that far, so we went Eurostar to Gare du Nord, TGV from Gare Montparnasse to Le Mans then picked up a rental car.
We stayed at a hotel in Daumeray, but I can’t recall the name, but we had dinner at Relais Henri 1V in La Flèche.
Anyone who’s been out in the boonies in France knows that you can’t help but fall over a fantastic bistro without looking too hard, and I certainly still remember my escargots then ratatouille, followed by coffee and a glass or two of Armagnac in Relais Henry 1V.
I couldn’t resist playing a gentle trick on my non French speaking nor reading wife.
She said that she fancied steak, and left it to me, I ordered ‘viande chevaline’ (horse meat steak), cooked à point, which is medium rare in France, but closer to rare in U.K. or U.S.
This came with sides of carrots, haricot vert, and frites, she said that it was great, but the steak was a little sweet.
To this day I’ve never told her.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

Another vote for Amboise I see. I wasn't planning on venturing quite that far East however Amboise is getting mentioned a lot and I imagine for good reason.

I'll have a look at Daumeray.

There are literally so many places to stay and things to see I'm not sure how we're going to figure out a 2-3 night stay!

 

[eviled]

I drove through France and got the ferry back from Spain a few years ago.
Drove every other day and never for more than 2 hours.
Took about 10 days but we stayed in some fantastic places at a very reasonable prices
message me if you want anymore details

 

[Mel_P]

Recommend Chinon and environs. Loads of chateau selling Loire red at a quality you cannot buy in UK. Haven't been since the pandemic and only 2 bottles left.....this place is excellent - http://www.plouzeau.com/en/home-chinon-rive-gauche/