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Loire Valley

Verified pathEvery step checked against primary sources, last September 2026

Muscadet, Anjou, Saumur and Touraine to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, with four grapes and one verified producer.

All levels 121 min 16 steps About Loire Valley

Part of France

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  1. Loire Valley

    Region 8 min

    Start with the valley: about 800 kilometres from the Atlantic near Nantes to Sancerre, four sub-regions, and its four lead grapes.

  2. Muscadet AOC

    Region 8 min

    Begin in the Pays Nantais near Nantes with Muscadet, crisp saline whites shaped by sur lie aging.

  3. Melon de Bourgogne

    Grape 7 min

    Meet Muscadet's only grape, Melon de Bourgogne, a natural cross of Pinot and Gouais Blanc that settled in the Pays Nantais after the 1709 frost.

  4. Anjou AOC

    Region 5 min

    Next, Anjou: red, white, rosé and sparkling wines from 2,500 hectares, with Chenin Blanc running from bone dry to sweet.

  5. Savennières AOC

    Region 6 min

    Within Anjou-Saumur, Savennières makes dry Chenin Blanc, the only dry white appellation among Anjou's sweet wines.

  6. Saumur AOC

    Region 6 min

    Then Saumur, France's third-largest sparkling wine appellation, built on ancient tufa stone.

  7. Chinon AOC

    Region 9 min

    Into Touraine for Chinon, mostly dry red Cabernet Franc from 26 communes along the Vienne River.

  8. Bourgueil AOC

    Region 8 min

    Then Bourgueil, on the right bank of the Loire west of Tours, where Cabernet Franc grows on sandy-gravel flats and tuffeau hillsides.

  9. Cabernet Franc

    Grape 8 min

    Meet the red grape behind Chinon and Bourgueil, Cabernet Franc, a parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carménère.

  10. Vouvray AOC: Chenin Blanc in All Styles

    Region 9 min

    Back to whites in Vouvray, on the right bank in Touraine, where Chenin Blanc is made from dry sec to sweet moelleux, still and sparkling.

  11. Chenin Blanc

    Grape 10 min

    Step back to the grape itself: Chenin Blanc, high in acid, recorded in the Loire as early as 845 AD.

  12. Sancerre AOC

    Region 7 min

    Now to the Central Loire and Sancerre, on the left bank, known for Sauvignon Blanc whites plus Pinot Noir reds and rosés.

  13. Pouilly-Fumé AOC

    Region 8 min

    Across the river on the right bank, Pouilly-Fumé makes only Sauvignon Blanc, with flint soils giving the gunflint note called pierre à fusil.

  14. Sancerre vs Pouilly-Fume

    Comparison 7 min

    Sancerre AOC vs Pouilly-Fumé AOC

    Set Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé side by side: climate, soils, styles, size and aging potential.

  15. Sauvignon Blanc

    Grape 10 min

    Then the grape behind both, Sauvignon Blanc, most likely from the Loire, with Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé as its reference points.

  16. Domaine Huet

    Producer 5 min

    Now a producer: a Vouvray estate founded in 1928, farming 30 hectares of Chenin Blanc across Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont and Clos du Bourg.

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