Visit to Le Mans

Le Mans appears to be about equidistant from Angers and Tours in the Loire valley. There are some very interesting wineries in the Touraine and Anjou. There, you've got the apex of Chenin Blanc production, both dry and sweet and everything in between. You've also got red wines made from Gamay, Cab Franc and even Malbec (Côt). There are some other people in this group who are far more familiar with the region, but some producers I'd seek out are: Marc Angeli, Clos Roche Blanche, Thierry Puzelet/Clos de Tue-Boeuf, Catherine and Pierre Breton, Olga Raffault, Baumard, Dom. Closel and (if you can get in) Huet.

Mark Lipton

Nigel Poll wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Congratulations,

Le Mans is a beautiful town. Unfortunately it would be so crowded during the 24 hours weekend that you will probably miss the mystic experience I had two years ago when we spent a full sunday in the Cathedral surroundings. The Cathedral is magnificent, one of the most impressive buildings I have ever visited, probably more impressive (but in an ascetic way) than the ones in Spain.

Angers would be a good destination as would be Tours. I can be of help when it comes to suggestions of restaurants in Angers which I have visited extensively.

You do not make clear if you want to visit a winery or you just want to go to some restaurant with a great wine list.

If the latter, I strongly suggest a visit to Béhuard, a small island in the middle of the Loire (close to Angers) where there is an excellent restaurant called "Les Tonnelles" where you could enjoy a great wine list with plenty of mature vintages of Anjou wines. 60 euros/pax with a good bottle of wine for two people was our last bill. Food was great, service was excellent, they speak a little english and the bottle of Mark Angeli Les Fouchardes 2000 was astonishing. You cannot go wrong with that.

From Le Mans to Behuard is a 1:15 hours drive. After the lunch (or before) you could pay a visit to the Brissac Castle if you are so inclined.

On the way back, stop by Savennieres and try to find the Clos de la Coulee de Serrant. You can do a short walk along such a mythical vineyard.

Best,

S.

'lo Nigel,

Jasnières, of course! One of the best kept secrets in the world of whites, and the most northerly of the Loire appellations. Quite close to Le Mans, and now with the fab new autoroute to Tours (which I took last week to help my young Gillian win the National of her piano competition, hehe shameless parental boast), very quick indeed to get to, perhaps 20 minutes from the circuit. Some interesting reds too which some consider worth only curiosity value, but I find I sometimes quite like. (Pineau d'Aunis anyone?)

Anyway some very good Chenin, I like Dom Cezin (M. Fresneau) and I know Mike Tommasi has a producer he swears by, a google will turn it up.

Anyway with the new leg of the A28 finished between Le Mans and Tours, Vouvray - Montlouis is actually closer than the Anjou.

If you come down on the (also new) A28 from Rouen, watch out for the speed trap just above Gacé. If you're coming from Caen, the gendarmes will be camped out in Mortrée, as usual, and again in Sées as you join the N138 towards Alencon.

Have fun!

-E

Thanks for your suggestions.

Despite our best intentions to get out-and-about the traffic around Le Mans and Arnage was impenetrable and the furthest we got was a walk into the village for lunch. We did manage a trip around the hypermarchè and ended up with a couple of dozen bottles of assorted reds. Whites were out of the question given that we were camping so I'm afraid that the delights of Jasnières remain a mystery to me.

Unfortunately I have to report a complete failure to properly select, taste and note the wine. Instead, we settled for drinking the stuff in the warm evening breeze whilst the cars streamed past, the Corvettes and Panoz' with much gnashing and wailing of teeth and the Audis with the whispered nonchalance that led them to win. There were some highlights and I'll mention them here as I did promise feedback, although I apologise for the total lack of meaningful information about the wines as I didn't have the material (nor, frankly, much inclination at the time) to write anything down.

We had a Cahors ('98 as I recall) that my companions stated smelled of dry raisins but I thought smelled of toilets. Horrible, but they liked it. My opinion was confirmed by the amount of sediment the bottle threw and their hangovers the following day. We had a different Cahors another day that had the same nose, but softer, and tasted much better, though still not particularly memorable. My favourite was a Gigondas which reeked of burnt toast but had very deep blackcurrant flavours. Lovely, lovely stuff.

Apart from that there were assorted Côtes du Rhône and Chinon, none outstanding but all very pleasant. The most noteworthy point though is that not a single one of them cost more than 4 euros (2.80GBP or

So, now I just need to plan another trip to make use of your suggestions. Shame...!

Nigel