At the foot of the most stunning French Chateaux, the Touraine vineyards offer anything you want. Sparkling or still, dry, semi-dry or sweet, tannic or fruitier, Touraine wines will delight you as much as the landscape.
Stretching across most of the Loire, the Touraine wine-growing area is located around the city of Tours, at the crossroads of oceanic and continental influences. A series of east-west facing valleys, where the continental influence is less harsh, present ideal conditions for the creation of microclimates that are especially favourable to wine-growing. This region is known for its hot, torpid summer days.
The soil around the Touraine area is a variety of limestone with excellent drainage that is known as tuffeau which is the same material used to build many of the famous Loire Valley Chateaux.
For white wines the main grape is Chenin blanc but Sauvignon blanc and (to a smaller extent) Chardonnay is also planted. For red wines the main grape is Cabernet franc with some smaller plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay and Malbec. The rosé wines are made from an assortment of Gamay, Pineau d'aunis, Pinot gris and Pinot noir.
