The Touraine Appellation
Honte à qui n’admirerait pas ma belle, ma brave Touraine dont les sept vallées ruissellent d’eau et de vin.
(Shame on anyone who does not admire my beautiful, my brave Touraine whose seven valleys flow with water and wine).
– Honoré Balzac, Les Deux Amis (MM. Marescq et Compagnie, 1830)
Nearing the end of this vicarious journey through the most renowned appellations and wines of the Touraine region, during which I have touched on the near immortal wines of Vouvray from the likes of Philippe Foreau, François Pinon and Vincent Carême, and the grands vins of the limestone côtes of Chinon from Philippe Alliet, Bernard Baudry and others, and any number of other wines in every style along the way, there is a perhaps understandable temptation to skip lightly over the ‘generic’ Touraine appellation.
After all, this is a ‘catch-all’ appellation, one whose purpose at first glance seems to be to mop up and validate the wines of a huge expanse of heterogeneous vineyard. This appellation’s vines are planted on a diverse array of terroirs spread across Honoré Balzac’s seven valleys; it is not an appellation of focus like the diminutive Jasnières or Cour-Cheverny.
Nevertheless, to treat the Touraine appellation with anything other than the respect it surely deserves would be a mistake, for many reasons. First, the Loire Valley is not a region in which the best wines hail only from the most famous appellations; many who favour the wines of this region will have fond memories of Touraine bottles, not least from vignerons such as the late Catherine Roussel and Didier Barrouillet at Clos Roche Blanche, but other noteworthy names who have shaped the wines of this appellation and region including Henry Marionnet at Domaine de la Charmoise, Thierry Puzelat at Clos du Tue Boeuf, Bertrand Minchin at La Tour Saint-Martin and François Plouzeau at Domaine de la Garrelière. And if this little selection does not get your tastebuds tingling, well, there are others.
