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Motorway Service Area (aire) on the A61 Autoroute des 2 Mers between Toulouse and Castelnaudry with Ovalie Museum (Rugby) and Centre for the Canal du Midi.
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The launch of Domaine Leduc-Frouin’s new website last week (www.leduc-frouin.com) prompted another look at Loire pinks, an area which I have always found confusing. Antoine Leduc produces some excellent rosés, and I have been a recent convert to the pink stuff. The more that rosés are understood as variants on red wines, rather than blends of red and white, their potential for complexity and finesse become evident. And, neither are they the afterthought or lesser quality juices from the production of red wine - indeed they are sometimes the first gentle pressing of the red grapes, or are processed quite separately. The secret is to ensure that the grape juice (usually white) only spends a short time in contact with the crushed grape skins, which impart colour and tannin to the wine. So often you may seem subtitles like “Vin d’une nuit” indicating that they have only had skin contact at cool temperatures overnight. In some ways more skill is required to make a good rosé than straightforward reds or whites.
The Loire was of course best known in the UK for producing some pretty ghastly sweet insipid rosé wines, before our tastes were educated and we became more demanding of good quality - and Loire rosés like Mateus rosé and Hirondelle passed into our wine tasting adolescence.
However, given time things change and improve - the only thing that does not always help is the French appellation system which offers 3 different generic appellations (excluding more specific ones like Chinon rosé) - i.e Rosé de Loire, Rosé d’Anjou and Cabernet d’Anjou AC

Rosé d’Anjou is made in the area north and south of Angers (59 Maine-et-Loire, Val de Loire) and can be made from Grolleau, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Côt (malbec), Gamay and Pineau d’Aunis. However it can be made as a dry or sweet wine, still or sparkling with secondary fermentation - useful!

Rosé de Loire on the otherhand can be made across a wide area of the Loire Valley including Anjou, Saumur and Touraine, grapes including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Grolleau, Pineau d’Aunis and Pinot.However, it is specified as a still dry wine.

Cabernet d’Anjou is perhaps the most defined, coming from the area north and south of Angers and made only from Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon - and it is always a sweet still wine.

Although there is some administrative logic behind these classifications, they do not really help the consumer very much when hunting for a bottle off the wine merchant’s shelves!

Domaine Leduc-Frouin’s Cabernet d’Anjou is a definite recommendation - despite the fact that it is sweetish. The secret is not to approach the wine with any prejudice - the nose is stunning, full of wonderful summer fruit character, the colour of the wine in the glass seems to be multi-layered hues of pink, and in the mouth the real complexity of the wine with its delicate intermingling of fruit and perfume is quite captivating - followed by a touch of fruit sweetness on the finish.

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If you are in to flower arranging, chateaux and/or wine you could visit the Chateau de Brissac (49 Maine et Loire, Val de Loire) from 8 - 10 April 2006 when they celebrate “Paradis Fleurs”.
50 nationally and internationally-known talented flower-arranging artists are challenged to create a romantic table for two within the theme of marriage - all within the magnificent rooms of this 7-storey, 200 room, 16th Century Chateau. Before leaving, you’ll be invited to vote for your favourite floral arrangement if you wish - see www.chateau-brissac.fr At least the displays will be inside, so there is no problem if the weather is poor.
Situated a few miles south of the Loire near Angers, Brissac is in the Anjou wine-making region - not far from our favourite Anjou producer Domaine Leduc-Frouin at Sousigné, near Martigné-Briand.
Indeed Brissac is one of the Anjou-Villages, qualifying for the AC Anjou-Villages Brissac. The “-Villages” tag generally signifies a higher quality level than the remaining appellation (the same applies in Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone etc) and beyond specifying a more delimited area of production, the rules on the yield and age of the vines are more restrictive - and generally the older the vines and the lower the yield, the more complex and developed the wine.
Furthermore, the Chateau de Brissac has its own vineyard producing reds (Anjou and Anjou-Villages Brissac) and a sweet Rosé d’Anjou made from Gamay and Grolleau (sometimes spelt as GrosLot, although pronounced virtually the same!)

in addition to visiting the Chateau, admiring the floral displays and testing the wine, you could also stay a night in one of the impressive bedrooms at the chateau for about £250 a night (per couple)!

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Bayonne (64 Pyrenees-Atlantique, Aquitaine) is in the middle of the Basque country in deepest southwest France. just 30 minutes from the Spanish border and 10 minutes from the coast and Biarritz.It is famous for its Bayonne Ham, which is similar in style to Parma ham from Italy.
Since 1942, Bayonne celebrates its Ham Festival during Holy week (13-15 April 2006). when the farmers come to the bank of the river (The Nive) to sell their orange-coloured air-dried ham with red peppers.
It is an area of strange and wonderful contrasts - the Basque influence on architecture, food and language is evident everywhere, except nearby Biarritz which has a rather faded Eastbourne-like elegance. We much preferred the next coastal town south - St Jean de Luz, which seemed less touristy and was a delightful blend of new and old. It is a stunning area to visit with the mountains and the sea - the western end of the Pyrenees seem almost to fall into the Atlantic. In the same way that the French part of Basque country seems quite un-French, so the Spanish side has a different feel from the rest of Spain - and you can understand a little of why the Basqu e people feel that it is one area, artificially divided by an international frontier. However, with the EU transit from France into Spain and vice versa is usually seemless, unless there is some security alert or local farmers from either side chose to block the frontier to get publicity for some grievance. With the recently announced ceasefire announced by the Basque separatists and the recent unrest in France over race, unemployment and labour laws, the latter is probably the bigger threat!

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Amboise (37, Indre et Loire, Loire Valley) in the Touraine celebrates in annual wine festival in the imposing surroundings of the Chateau d’Amboise 15-17 April 2006.

The relevant appellation is Touraine Amboise AC, situated between Tours and Blois on the Loire, and includes still and sparkling whites made from Chenin blanc, rose and red wines made from Cabernet Franc and Gamay.

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Coulommiers is both a cheese and a town - in 77 Seine-et-Marne, Ile de France, 40 odd miles east of Paris. The town celebrates its cheese in a grand cheese and wine festival from 7-10 April 2006 - cheese and wine tasting, competition for the best cheese, competition for the best cheese eater, concert, exhibition etc.
See www.foire-fromages-et-vins.com

Coulommiers is a soft cheese, essentially a small Brie, made from raw cow’s milk. The more one investigates the more one discovers - as there is Brie de Meaux, Brie Fermier, Brie de Melun, Brie de Coulommiers (which is not quite the same as Coulommiers), Brie de Montereau, Brie de Rungis and Brie de Provins. Brie de Meaux is widely regarded as the best, but as with all these styles of cheese, appropriate ripeness is critical.Too young and hard and so much flavour and texture is missing. Ripened too quickly the cheese separates and is lumpy. A good cheesemonger will ask when the cheese is to be eaten and choose appropriately, Getting one that has just the right amount of ooze is critical, in the short period before it gets dissolves too far into a sticky goo which smells of ammonia.

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It is not to everybody’s taste, but Arles (13 Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence) claims to be the world capital of bull-fighting and the cradle of the sport in France.In the nearby Camargue, more than anywhere else in France, the bull is king.Living in the marshes since antiquity, they are part of the daily life of the region. Traditions and culture revolve around the bulls - both the Camargue bull, bred for “bull running” or the “toro brave” from the Spanish race of bulls which fights in the arenas.

Spanish bullfighting appeared in France in 1701. The restoration of the Arles Roman arena in 1825 allowed for the organization of the “free running” or “Camargue running”. The first bullfight in the arena took place in 1830.

The Easter Bullfighting Festival (Feria de Paques), April 14-17 2006 opens the French bullfighting season, attracting 500,000 visitors filling the 60,000 spectator places in the Roman arena and promises to be a tremendously colourful (and noisy) spectacle in stunning surroundings. - For more info see www.arenes-arles.com

Even if you are not tempted by the bull running or bull fights, Arles has an impressive legacy of Roman remains. The major Roman sites, such as the Arena and the Theater, are unique in that they are integrated into the houses and buildings of the town. Van Gogh stayed here in 1888 and 1889, having one of his most prolific periods. After a visit from Gaugin which precipitated an argument he famously cut off part of one his ears in Arles.

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Keywords: Arles, Provence, Camargue,Bull,Toro,Taureaux

South of Blois in the Touraine, Cheverny (41 Loir-et-Cher, Centre) offers good food, wine and hotels - see map Read more on this…

Compiegne (61 Oise, Picardie) - just off the A1 autoroute north of Paris - Hotel Restaurant Au Relais Napoleon - see map Read more on this…

My friends at Domaine Leduc-Frouin in Anjou are rightly pleased with their new website at www.leduc-frouin.com. We at ALLEZ VINS! worked with firstly Chantal, and then her son Antoine for many years - starting in 1989. Two friends and I were on a long wine buying trip around Alsace, Beaujolais and the Loire, and our pre-arranged visit to the Loire was a great disappointment - insipid sweet rose and overpriced bubbly. By chance I recalled another contact I had been given by a French-Canadian wine grower, so we dropped in on Domaine Leduc-Frouin. We were warmly welcomed, but clearly we were being vetted by Madame to see if we were serious or not. From that first visit followed many others, and many orders for their Anjou Blanc Sec, Chardonnay, Anjou Rouge, Anjou-Villages and the stunning Coteaux du Layon.
The domaine is pretty but workmanlike, although they are developing the tufa caves where they age some of their barrel-matured wines.Situated at Sousigne, near Martigne-Briand (49 Maine-et-Loire, Loire Valley) about 20 miles south of Angers they are at the heart of the wine-growing area, which includes the treasured valley of the Layon river. The Coteaux du Layon is a rich dessert wine made from pure Chenin Blanc which unlike the dessert wines in Aquitaine (Sauternes, Saussignac, Monbazillac etc) is not affected by botrytis, although the grapes are late harvested to optimise the concentration of the sugars.
The Anjou reds are predominantly from Cabernet Franc, which can be a difficult grape, but in the better years the Domaine produces some excellently fruity, raspberry reds which are delightful.
In the summer of 2004 Antoine Leduc came over to the UK and hosted a tutored wine-tasting for Allez Vins! customers in Harrogate, and joined the Allez Vins! stand at the Harrogate Wine Fair. The tutored tasting was a huge success, as it is seldom possible to have an informed tasting of these quality wines. Supermarket versions, when available, are often rather bland, whereas Domaine Leduc-Frouin’s are always full of character and style.
Antoine, his sister Nathalie and mother Chantal are charming people and always provide a warm welcome - so it is worth a visit to the domaine if you are in the area. www.leduc-frouin.com

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Keywords:Anjou,wine,France,Leduc,Leduc-Frouin,Sousigne,Martigne,briand,loire,layon,coteaux