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Waitrose (online and in its stores) launches its French Wine Showcase on 26 March 08 - running through to 27 April 2008 this will feature a total of 48 wines.

As well as our usual French favourites, the showcase will also see the launch of four new wines to the range, including the delightful Taittinger Rose NV and the excellent value Domaine des Eyssards Bergerac Rouge.

Unusually for a major supermarket (and greatly to be welcomed) Waitrose will be featuring 13 specially sourced small parcel wines from a wide range of less well-known appellations such as:

Quincy (crisp Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire), Provence and Lirac (Southern Rhone) and the wonderfully unusual Pierre Boniface Domaine des Rocailles Apremont de Savoie 2007 and La Bastide Blanche Bandol (rich Mourvedre red from east of Marseille).

Waitrose Wine Direct

A new wine route has been established in the middle Loire Valley (Route des Vignobles du Coeur de France), prompted by the opening of the new A77 autoroute to Moulins (running alongside the old N7) which makes Paris less than 2 hours from Sancerre (18 Cher, Centre).
The route actually starts at Gien on the Loire and passes through the Coteaux du Giennois (Gamay and Pinot reds, Sauvignon and Chenin whites); Pouilly-sur-Loire AC (whites unusually made from the Chasselas grape, more frequently used as a table grape); Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, Quincy and Reuilly - all making superb minerally Sauvignon Blanc and some light Pinot Noirs.The route ends near Vierzon and Bourges convenient for the A71 autoroute back to Paris.
There is also another branch of the route near Chateaumeillant, a little-known appellation a little further south, where the main grape is Gamay, balanceded by a little Pinot Noir. This area also produces a very light rose wine, or vins gris (what Americans might call a “blush”) which is light, dry, fresh and fruity.

The wine routes are usually well-signposted to pass all the main domaines, and this would be quite a delightful trip even if you were not interested in wine - Gien has a magnificent chateau by the Loire, Sancerre is a hill-top town surrounded by a dramatic landscape of vineyards, and Bourges is well worth visiting for its Gothic cathedral and medieval centre.

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Keywords:Loire,Centre,Cher,Pouilly,Gien,Giennois,Chateaumeillant,Sancerre,Quincy,Reuilly,Menetou,Salon,Bourges,Vierzon,a77.a71