Coteaux du Vendômois wines, a rare appellation of lightness.

Coteaux du Vendômois is an AOP (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) covering just 125 hectares, spread over 28 communes in the Pays des Boucles du Loir (a tributary of the Loire) between Vendôme and Montoire.

Only nine winemakers, including the Cave coopérative, produce white, gray and red wines.

The whites are Chenin-based, the gris ones are made exclusively from Pineau d’Aunis, a rare grape variety with a strong identity, authentic to the region, as are certain red wines, while the others are blends of Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and sometimes Gamay.

“Pineau d’Aunis has always been the region’s authentic grape variety, the representative of its terroir,” explains Patrice Colin, President of the Coteaux du Vendômois Syndicat.
A historical work mentions the presence of Pineau d’Aunis as early as the 9th century in Anjou, so it has been grown in the Loir valley for over a thousand years. According to Galet, in his Dictionnaire Encyclopédique des Cépages.
Today, it is grown only in this region – apart from a few communes in the Cher Valley – as Cabernet Franc has supplanted it in Anjou. Production is spread over 140 hectares in the Coteaux du Vendômois and Vins de Pays PDO area.

Here are the estates who invited us to discover their latest productions:

In terms of tasting, the appellation’s wines are fresh, fruity and highly complex, combining spiciness with a beautiful minerality for the whites and greys.

The reds are equally refined and elegant.

Enjoy with lamb curry, just-snacked scallops… or simply as an aperitif, listening to “Fou Time” by Nico Morelli, who has just released a sumptuous solo piano album(Let Me Play, Let Me Pray). The last notes will echo in the bottom of your glass. Give it a try!