Rosé de Loire
While a number of Ligérian appellations – including, but not limited to, Chinon, Bourgueil, Saumur and Sancerre – allow for rosé wines, there are only four modern-day Loire Valley appellations dedicated purely to rosé.
Two – Cabernet d’Anjou and Rosé d’Anjou – are very well known, having been popularised in literature, radio and on the silver screen during the 20th century. The drinkability of Cabernet d’Anjou was beamed into French homes on a daily basis in the long-running radio soap opera La Famille Duraton, broadcast from 1936 through to 1966. The soap later spawned two spin-off movies starring Jean Carmet (1920 – 1994) and other big names of the era. Thanks in part to all this free publicity, vignerons turning out Cabernet d’Anjou found themselves rubbing their hands all the way from the pressoir to the bank.
Although less renowned, the Rosé d’Anjou appellation was created a few years before Cabernet d’Anjou, and both appellations reflect the Angevin tastes of the era, the wines inherently sweet or at least off-dry. Rosé d’Anjou also had its famous exponents, not least James Bond, who downs a pitcher of Rosé d’Anjou when on the trail of the eponymous villain in Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger (Jonathan Cape, 1959). Sadly this moment never made it on to the silver screen; demonstrating the importance of commercial deals and product placements, by the time Sean Connery appeared in the film of the same name in 1964, Bond had developed a taste for Dom Pérignon instead.
Both appellations were immensely popular. From the 1950s onwards, Anjou was ruled by rosé, many vineyards planted to Chenin Blanc, the source of the region’s prestigious whites, were abandoned or replanted in favour of varieties useful for rosé. This provided a lot of short-term benefit, although with hindsight was a poorly chosen path, as demand for these sweet rosés would eventually wane. Keen to shift into a drier style more appealing to modern tastes, and unable to use the generic Anjou appellation (which, unlike generic Touraine, does not allow for rosé wines), many vignerons shifted into producing drier rosé (before, hopefully, pulling up and replanting with Chenin Blanc).
These dry wines needed a home, and in response to this need the Rosé de Loire appellation was created.
In this guide to Rosé de Loire, one of only two multiregional appellations in the Loire Valley (the other is Crémant de Loire – I guess the de Loire suffix is something of a clue) I provide a brief history associated with details on the appellation today, including geography, style and leading domaines.
Before I continue, though, you may be wondering what the fourth Loire Valley rosé appellation is (after Cabernet d’Anjou, Rosé d’Anjou and Rosé de Loire). I will give you a little thinking time, and you will find the answer at the foot of the page.
