ASIANOVERLAND.NET LONDON TO SYDNEY DAY 255: MONT-SAINT-MICHEL TO LOIRE VALLEY, FRANCE

In 1992 we travelled to the Loire Valley as part of a self-drive (Christine Last) Wine tour and to attend the Olympic Games in Barcelona. The Loire Valley wine region includes muscadet, sauvignon blanc and fume blanc wine regions  along the Loire river, from the Muscadet region on the Atlantic coast to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé southeast of Orléans in north-central France.

The Romans planted the first vineyards in the Loire Valley during their settlement of Gaul in the 1st century AD. By the 5th century, the flourishing viticulture of the area was recorded by the poet Sidonius Apollinaris.

In the History of the Franks, Bishop Gregory of Tours wrote of the frequent plundering by the Bretons of the area's wine stocks. By the 11th century the wines of Sancerre had a reputation across Europe for their high quality, and in the High Middle Ages, the wines of the Loire Valley were the most esteemed wines in England and France, even more prized than wine (claret) from Bordeaux.

The Loire valley's historic towns are dominated by numerous châteaux, including Château d'Amboise, Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, Château d'Ussé, and Château de Villandry. More than 300 châteaux include castle fortifications built in the 10th century, although many were built over the centuries. When the French kings began constructing their huge châteaux in the Loire Valley, the nobility followed suit to ingratiate themselves with the King.

The Loire Valley chansonniers are a related group of songbooks attributed to the composers of the Loire Valley and are the earliest surviving examples of a new genre that offered a combination of words, music, and illuminations.

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