A trip to the Loire Valley should brighten up a dull February. For the weekend of 24/25 February 2007 you can visit the Fete des Vins d'Anjou at Challonnes-sur-Loire (49 Maine-et-Loire, Val d'Anjou - see map) on the weekend of 24/25 February 2007.
This sounds much more fun than the Loire Valley Wine Fair in Angers at the end of January, which is a serious trade event.
But at Challonnes you will get the chance to tase wines from the 29 appellations of Anjou-Saumur (and no, I cannot list them all!) plus a wine exhibition; a wine tasting and a tour of the cellars;
an exhibition of agricultural and wine-growing equipment (wow!); "a wine brotherhoods parade complete with enthronements" (i.e. probably an excuse for rather portly men to dress up in silly garb to re-enact quasi-historical cermonial) and a contest to find the "Best Anjou Tasters"
The quality of Loire Valley wines has improved considerably in recent years, and you may be pleasantly surprised at the richness of many Cabernet Franc reds.
I'm not sure yet if our favourite Anjou winemaker - Antoine Leduc at Domaine Leduc-Frouin, (whose wines we used to import and which always impressed) will be there - but if not you could always make a little detour to visit the domaine. Two of his wines have recently been written up in "la Revue du Vin de France", the most serious of the French wine magazines. His red Anjou AC 2005 gets 17½/20,whilst the exceptional dessert wine Coteaux du Layon AC Nectar 2002 gets an impressive 19/20!
For more on Domaine Leduc-Frouin see www.leduc-frouin.com
For more info on the Anjou Wine Festival see www.fetedesvins-anjou.fr/
