Loire Valley brands

Although there are some excellent wines produced in the large Loire Valley area, there are few Loire wines, whites, rosés or pale reds, that rank among the greatest French wines.

Touraine, the area round Tours, is know for its light red wines, notably from the Gamay grape variety. The region also produces vin gris , “grey wine”, which is actually a very pale rosé, being a white wine made from black grapes. While there are plenty of Loire wines that benefit from appellations protégées, others are sold under the vin de pays label.

Finally, the Loire valley is France’s second largest producer of sparkling wines, after Champagne. Two of the more prestigious varieties are Vouvray and Saumur.