Oh the joy of analog photography, getting to relive your wine travels all over again a few weeks later. These pictures were taking while traveling through Chinon, Bourgueil, Anjou and Saumur on the day after the natural wine fair La Dive Bouteille in Saumur.
Welcome to Chinon, the land of lightly rolling hills with forested edges.
Old vines with the orange leftovers of a hefty roundup spray. So sad to see all small life extinguished.
A healthier vineyard soil with a mix of wildflowers and a loose rock of limestone tuffeau, the predominant soil stone in all regions that we visited.
We forest was cleared, most likely to plant it as a vineyard here in Anjou. A sunny afternoon had now turned into a lousy rainy day. Here the terroir is completely flat, where in other regions they are based more on the Southern exposing soils.
A meter thick layer of tuffeau / limestone. This was photographed in Chinon.
We were lucky enough to visit the Loire Valley during blossom season. Here in the middle of Saumur-Champigny, very close to the former winery building of Domaine Clos Rougeard, possibly the best producer of Cabernet Franc in the world.
An old abandoned barn in the middle of the Anjou vineyards, made from the local tuffeau limestone.
A thick old vine in Bourgueil. Being used to regions with other grape varieties planted, we were surprised by the thickness of some of Chenin Blanc vines. Many were clearly treated with fertilizers though, a known reason for the humongous vines.
Markus Praat, founder at ASOP Wines