Hurrah for the Loire
I
f, after nearly two years without so much as stepping in a vineyard, you were casting around for the best
European region to make your first postpandemic wine-buying trip, it would be hard to think of a better pick than the Loire Valley. Here, after all, is a classic French wine region that, in terms of sheer variety – of grapes, terroir and winemaking approach and style – is like several regions rolled
A group of stir-crazy independents were itching to take part in their first post-pandemic buying trip – and what better destination could there be than the multi-faceted Loire Valley?
into one: nowhere else can offer so much in one place, while still retaining an underlying, regional identity. Indeed, as our party of seven independent wine merchants soon discovered after converging on the Loire
David Williams reports back on an eventful five days
from their homes across the UK in midNovember, the better part of five days in the region may only scratch the surface of
Photography by Riaz Syed
what’s available. But where else in the world could you move so seamlessly from vibrant, fragrant
THE WINE MERCHANT january 2022 30
