loire region france

• Drawing a Blanc

I was so impressed with last week's Lake Breeze Gewürztraminer that I thought a column (or two) devoted to underappreciated and under-the-radar grapes was in order. Far too often the big-shot grapes -- Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, etc. -- get the lion's share of the spotlight. So this week I thought I'd promote four less commercially popular whites (reds will have their turn next week). Chenin Blanc: This grape, whose origins are in the Loire Valley, was big in the U.S. when wine's popularity skyrocketed in the 1970s. If there's one New World white wine that is criminally undervalued (and deliciously underpriced), it's South African Chenin Blanc (sometimes known as Steen). Also of note is France's Vouvray, as well as Crémant de Loire -- a bubbly Chenin Blanc. I'd be remiss i...

...France's Alsace region (near the German border) makes some fantastic flin...

• Winnipeg Free Press
• August 21, 2009

• Lizzi & Fredl: A Perilous Journey of Love and Faith.

... became increasingly menacing in Vichy France, he was allowed to remain as an unpaid volunteer i... the Nazis blew up a major bridge over the Loire River and occupied the city. When the sisters told..., they ended up in Bergerac in the Dordogne region. There they stayed until the summer of 1942, at wh...

• Catholic Insight
• Vol. 17 Nbr. 8, September 2009

• A Grape Idea

... Roches Blanches (Muscadet Svre et Maine, France -- $10.99, available at Liquor Marts and beyond). This Loire Valley white is made from the Melon de Bourgogne g...Like most wines from this region, it begs for some seafood. An excellent value. 87/...

• Winnipeg Free Press
• September 28, 2010