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Tasting at Cave M. Plouzeau in Chinon, Touraine, with Owner/ Winemaker Marc Plouzeau his Château de la Bonneliére Wines - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

At Domaine Bouchardière in Cravant les Côteaux, Touraine: Tasting the Wines of Domaine Bouchardière and Domaine de la Haut Olive, Cravant les Coteaux, Chinon and Panzoult, Touraine - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

Menu du Jour Lunch at Bar-Restaurant Le Bistrot du Marché of Hotel Le Lion d'Or in the Center of Chinon - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours

we went to Domaine François Cazin, Le Petit Chambord, in Cheverney, Touraine, in the afternoon, for a vineyard tour, cellar tour and tasting with François Cazin. We were in particular interested in his Romorantin wines. It was King François I. who enjoyed Romorantin wines and brought the grape to this area in 1519 when he built the Château Chambord near by.

Domaine François Cazin, Le Petit Chambord, is represented in the USA by Louis-Dressner.

Domaine François Cazin, Le Petit Chambord, in Cheverney, Touraine

Le Petit Chambord is a family winery, passed down from father to son for four generations. They farm 51 acres in three appellations: Cheverney, white, red, and rosé, Crémant de Loire, and Cour Cheverney. 50% of the vineyards are planted with white grape varieties with Romorantin as the dominant variety. The red varieties are Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Côt (the local term for Malbec). 

Romorantin gives a full-bodied, but at the same time elegant, fresh wine and is a grape that came from Burgundy to the Loire Valley. It was King François I. who enjoyed Romorantin wines and brought the grape to this area in 1519 when he built the Château Chambord near by. In 1993 Romorantin got its own appellation: the AOP Cour Cheverney is Romorantin only. 

At this domaine we can taste a wide variety of wines and a quote by Astor Wines in NY says this: “There’s a lot to remember when it comes to the Loire. Novices, take note: Cabernet Franc is a great alternative to Cabernet Sauvignon, Muscadet is unparalleled as a companion to shellfish, and Cour Cheverny is the best white wine appellation you’ve never heard of.”

David Bowler/ Louis-Dressner

Let us tell you how we met François Cazin. In the early 1990's, Joe Dressner and David Lillie (then working as the Loire buyer for Garnet Wine and Liquors) would travel each winter to attend the Salon des Vins de Loire. That fateful winter, the two had set out to find a producer from the recently created Cheverny appellation. Both started from opposite sides of the stand and tasted through every producer there. After comparing notes, the only wines both had truly enjoyed were François'. They approached him once more, this time together to ask if he'd be interested in having his wines imported to the United States.  Here we are, nearly 30 years later and still working together.

Created in 1993, Cheverny is one of the most recent appellations in the Loire Valley. The area, south of the Loire and abutting the marshy region of Sologne (the best hunting grounds in France), has produced wines since the 6th century. The soils consist of various combinations of clay, limestone and silica. Many varietals are planted: Pinot Noir, Gamay, Cabernet and Côt for red wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Chenin and Menu Pineau for the whites.

Cazin tends vines of considerable age and the resulting yields are well below average in any given year. His Cheverny is fresh and floral, with appley-texture and crisp acidity. The flavors are sleek and precise. Since 1997, the wine has been bottled unfiltered by gravity. His wines have consistently been the top pick of the vintage at the annual Loire Valley wine show in Angers. By legislation, a Cheverny wine has to be a blend of varietals and Cazin’s white is 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Chardonnay.

Cazin also makes a cuvée of Cour-Cheverny, exclusively from the ancient local grape Romorantin. This varietal, with its high acidity and minerality, can be angular and rough. But in the right hands, it achieves high ripeness and the wine has astonishing grapey, apricot and roasted nuts flavors, kept fresh and lively by good acidity. In very ripe vintages, when the grapes undergo passerillage or noble rot, Cazin vinifies some of his Romorantin off-dry, calling it "Cuvée Renaissance". A considerably smaller amount of red wine is also produced from Pinot Noir and Gamay.

Romorantin - goodproducer.com

At goodproducer, as wine lovers, we are always looking for rare grape varieties that grow in exceptional and favorable soils and advantageous climate conditions. Those factors are the foundation of great wines.
That’s the case for the Romorantin grape. A variety that sounds pretty fancy. It is a white grape exclusively found in the Cour Cheverny Appellation, one of the most unknown in the Loire region. This appellation is famous for its castle and has huge potential for producing wines.

It was 1519 when Francis I, King of France, introduced the grape variety Romorantin to the territories surrounding the Castle of Romorantin, a clue that gives insight to where the grape name originates.

We’re in France, in the Loire-et-Cher department located in the Centre-Val de Loire region. This white grape variety of France surprisingly survived the phylloxera epidemic that destroyed most of the vines in European countries in the 19th century. Today winemakers of this region can count to just 60 hectares in what became the AOC Cour-Cheverny in 1993.

Studies of DNA fingerprints of Romorantin show that this white variety is a result of a cross between Gouais blanc and Pinot fin teinturie.

Arriving

In the Vineyard

In the Cellar

Tasting

Bye-bye