Touraine-Amboise
Encyclopedia
Touraine-Amboise is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
(AOC) for in the Loire Valley wine region
in France
. It is situated within the wider Touraine AOC
wine appellation. It is produced by ten communes bordering both sides of the River Loire
. To their west lies the town of Amboise
with its famous royal château
. Since its separation from the Touraine AOC in 1954, it has constituted an AOC in its own right. Annual production stands at 9,000 hectolitres of wine, spread between red, rosé, and still white wines. Effervescent wines are also produced within this AOC's boundaries, but they are not entitled to use the Touraine-Amboise appellation, belonging instead to the Touraine appellation.
times. The Châtelliers plateau, on the edge of which the Château of Amboise is built, contains one of the Loire region's most important Chasséen
neolithic sites. An axe
made with local stone and a dagger
made with stone from the Grand-Pressigny
region, have been discovered to the west of the market town of Limeray. Significant permanent settlements seem to have grown up at the start of the Bronze Age
(approximately 5,000 years BC), while large-scale planting of the valleys dates from the final period of the Bronze Age, between 1,200 and 750 BC. At that time, following the last glacial period, vines already existed in their wild state as a kind of creeper growing on the edges of forests and on stony soils, but wine-making was as yet undiscovered.
In the first century AD the geographer, Pliny the Elder
(23-79 AD), described wine-growing
in Gaul
as well-developed, but made no specific mention of wines produced along the banks of the Loire. Whereas the Nantes
wine-growing area dates back to the Roman occupation, popular tradition links the start of vine cultivation in the province of Touraine
(in the middle section of the Loire's course) to the founding of Marmoutier Abbey
by St Martin
in 372 AD. The fall of the Roman empire
, and the turbulent centuries of the early Middle Ages
that followed, interrupted the development of wine production, and the use of wine was restricted to religious practices and medical applications, in both cases dispensed by monasteries. This was documented by Sulpicius Severus
, writing about meals at Marmoutier Abbey at the end of the 4th century: "Everyone gathered to break the fast and eat together; there was no wine provided except when illness demanded it". Several legends about the effects of drinking wine or pruning vines are linked to St Martin of Tours.
No information is available regardng wine-growing or wine production in the area directly around Amboise during the Middle Ages
. One can only make deductions from what is known of the wine-growing history of the region, and assume that local circumstances would not have differed greatly.
In the High Middle Ages, the oldest record seems to be that of Gregory of Tours
who described the damage caused to the vines by bad weather in the spring of 587. He refers on several occasions to vines growing near to the Basilica of St Martin of Tours
. At the time the Basilica owned the villa at Nazelles
close to Amboise, but there is no way of ascertaining whether the latter was planted with vines at that period.
From the 11th century onwards the majority of monasteries and abbeys strung out along the banks of the Loire
were involved in wine-growing, taking full advantage of the opportunity for transporting wine by river. A text dating from this time describes how a cleric from Chinon
used this mode of transport to take his wine to Nantes
.Issue de La vie et les miracles de saint Mexme XIe, cité dans Les vins de Loire, Éditions Montalba, 1979, p.31
"...In the liquor so divine,
Contained within your loins,
Bacchus, conqueror of India,
Lies all truth enclosed.
Amboise wines were especially enjoyed by the French king, Louis XI, who published a charter
stipulating that Amboise wines should be sold before all other wines at the market in Tours
. In 1477 he also introduced an annual gift of one hundred muids (one muid equalled eight French cubic feet) of wine to the monks of Canterbury
Church. Touraine wine was also routinely served at the table of the French king, François I
, who was apparently moved to comment: "Even though I was not born in Amboise, I grew up there, and all my life the taste of that divine draft from the beautiful city of Tours
, so dear to my heart, has remained with me".
Two main factors contributed to the growth of Touraine wines between the 16th and 19th century. The first was a decree issued by the Paris parliament on 14 August 1577, forbidding Paris wine merchants to obtain their supplies from anywhere within twenty leagues
Avant 1674, il s'agissait de l'ancienne lieue de Paris, d'une longueur de mètres, soit une distance d'environ 65 km. of the city.Interdiction annulée en 1776 par un édit royal. Since the Loire Valley
was easily accessible by road from the capital, demand rapidly increased firstly in the province of Orléanais
, then in the province of Touraine. The second factor was the popularity of the Loire Valley's white wines with Dutch buyers. The latter installed agents, charged with overseeing their imports at close quarters, in several Loire Valley
trading posts, including Amboise
.
To all intents and purposes, the Dutch agents were middle-men, stocking and selling on French wines to the whole world and making a considerable profit in the process. Colbert
(Louis XIV's finance minister) attempted to break their monopoly by creating a trading company that could deal directly with the markets. The Dutch retaliated by levying a heavy surcharge on various French manufactured articles, as well as French brandy and wine. Exports slowed down, with the regrettable result that the focus of production shifted from quality to quantity. A further undesirable effect was that cereal crops were often abandoned in favour of wine-growing, regardless of the land's suitability.
and phylloxera
that hit the region in 1882 came as a particularly heavy blow. The extent of the damage was even greater because the wine-growers initially refused to pull up their vines, trying instead to treat them with carbon disulfide
, though without success.
Following the introduction of new grape varieties, grafted onto American rootstocks, the vineyards were built up again between 1901 and 1905. In spite of these measures, the decline continued with a series of crises caused firstly by the collapse of stock market prices in 1906-1907, then by over-production in 1922-1923. It was only after the Second World War that the tide began to turn, thanks to improvements in quality due to the use of "noble" grape varieties, and increased demand for quality effervescent wines as an alternative to Champagne (wine)|Champagne]]. The growth of tourism was also a crucial in boosting sales of the wine produced.
Award of AOC status
In 1954, the wine-growing area located around the Château d'Amboise
, which was originally classed as part of the "Coteaux-de-Touraine" AOC
by the decree passed on 24 December 1939, was granted its own appellation of Touraine-Amboise. The new appellation originally covered nine communes in the department of Indre-et-Loire
, three on the left bank of the Loire
(Amboise
, Chargé
and Mosnes
) and six on the right bank (Cangey
, Limeray
, Pocé-sur-Cisse
, Nazelles-Négron
, Saint-Ouen-les-Vignes
and Montreuil-en-Touraine
). The commune of Saint-Règle
(on the left bank) was added to the appellation by the decree of 2 August 2005. In 1967 the Commanderie des Grands Vins d'Amboise (the Order of the Great Wines of Amboise) was established to ensure that the wines were well promoted.
(which derived its name from its Gallic inhabitants, the Turones
Selon certaines sources, l'oppidum d'Amboise pourrait même avoir été la cité d'origine des Turones), combined with the name of the town of Amboise, the most famous of the appellation's constituent communes.
that lies between 105 and 130 metres above sea level. This is divided in two by the wide valley of the Loire, which lies, on average, at about 55 metres above sea level and is bordered on either side by often steeply sloping hillsides.
and silt
that is carried along by the river. The slopes on either side are made up of a mixture of clay
s and other elements that have come down from the plateau areas. The wine-growing area is mainly located on the two halves of the plateau and, occasionally, on the upper slopes to either side of the valley. The plateau areas are covered in a thin layer of clay-sand silt that has been deposited there by the wind. Beneath this silt lies a polygenetic puddingstone
dating from the Upper Eocene
Age, mixed with varicoloured clays and small pebbles of rolled silex
, Jurassic
chert
s and quartz
grains. The soils of this wine-growing terroir
can be carbonate, overlying tuffeau stone on the higher slopes, or, more frequently, silicate and fairly heavy, overlying sands and clay gravels.
and continental
influences meet. A series of east-west facing valleys, where the continental influence is less harsh, present ideal conditions for the creation of microclimate
s that are especially favourable to wine-growing.
The nearest weather station
with readings that can be accessed is in Tours
.
Possible consequences of global warming
According to the conclusions of two studies published in the United States
(one of which was conducted by the Colmar
branch of l'INRA
(Institut National de Recherche Agronomique or French National Institute for Agricultural Research) on the consequences of global warming
for wine-growing, the Loire Valley
wine-growing area should be one of the prime beneficiaries of the gradual increase in temperatures. Basing their calculations on Sotheby's
auction statistics, these studies suggest that in the last ten years the optimum temperature for producing quality wine has already been reached in most French wine-growing areas, but that there is a margin for potential improvement of about 0.8 °C along the banks of the Loire. If these conclusions are right, the wines of this region could, in actual fact, reach their peak without the need for any changes in the grape varieties grown.
, covers the communes of Amboise
, Chargé
, Mosnes
, Cangey
, Limeray
, Pocé-sur-Cisse
, Nazelles-Négron
, Saint-Ouen-les-Vignes
, Montreuil-en-Touraine
and Saint-Règle
.
It extends over 220 hectares (543.6 acre) and produces 9,000 hectolitres a year, of which 60% goes into red wines, 30% into rosé wines and 10% into white wines.
The numbers of buds stipulated above apply to vines spaced up to one metre apart within the row. The number of buds per vine may be increased by one renewal bud for every 0.2 metres of additional spacing.
Pruning has become less strenuous and time-consuming since the introduction of electric and pneumatic secateurs
. The cuttings produced by pruning are shredded to form a mulch or burnt in situ. Pruning and trellising are the only tasks that wine-growers still carry out completely by hand.
The grapes are harvest
ed, either manually or by machine, when they are fully ripe. Sometimes grapes that have been harvested manually are sorted, either on the vines or at a sorting table on the wine-maker's premises, to ensure that rotten or insufficiently ripe grapes are removed. Grapes that have been harvested manually are usually crushed, then transferred to a tank. Pre-fermentation cold maceration is sometimes carried out. Alcoholic fermentation
can then begin, normally after the addition of yeast. The next stage is the extraction of polyphenols (tannins and anthocyanins) and other chemical constituents of the grapes. In the past this was carried out by a process called pigeage, which involved repeatedly pushing the floating cap of grape solids back down into the fermenting juice. Now, however, extraction is normally brought about by a series of remontages. This involves pumping the juice from the bottom of the tank, then pouring it over the cap of grape solids to wash out the grapes' distinctive constituents. The temperature for alcoholic fermentation can be varied, but the normal average temperature at the height of fermentation is between 28 and 35 degrees Celsius. If the naturally generated temperature is too low, chaptalization
may be carried out. This practice is subject to external regulations. Once alcoholic fermentation has finished, the liquid is removed from the tank and separated into free-run wine and press wine. Malolactic fermentation
may take place next, but is dependent on temperature. The wine is drawn off and stored in barrels or vats to be matured. The maturing process takes several months (6 to 24 months), after which the wine is fined, filtered and bottled.
Harvesting
is manual or mechanized. Two different methods may be used, either the direct pressing method (to produce a pressed rosé wine) or the method whereby the harvested red grapes are put in a tank and red wine maceration begins, but some of the juice is then bled off (to produce a bled rosé wine). Alcoholic fermentation takes place in tanks, as for white wine, and temperatures, chaptalization
, etc. are carefully controlled. This is followed by malolactic fermentation
. The wine is matured in vats, or sometimes in barrels. Lastly, the wine is filtered and bottled.
As with red wine-making, harvesting is manual or mechanized, and may include sorting. The grapes are then transferred into a press to be pressed. Once the grape must is in the tank, the sludge is removed, normally after certain enzymes have been added. At this stage pre-fermentation cold stabulation (at temperatures between 10 and 12 °C for several days) may be carried out in order to promote the extraction of aromas. Normally, however, after 12 to 48 hours, the clear juice is drawn off and left to ferment. Alcoholic fermentation continues under supervision, particular attention being paid to the temperature, which must remain more or less stable (between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius). If necessary, chaptalization is also carried out in order to boost the alcoholic strength by volume. Malolactic fermentation
and maturing then take place in barrels or in vats. Once this process is completed, the wine is filtered in order to clarify it. The final stage of the whole operation is the bottling of the wine.
s for the AOC, stipulated by the decree of 12 July 1994, are as follows:
The upper limit may be exceeded, provided the wine has been made without enrichment of any kind, and provided an investigation by the INAO
has been requested by the wine-grower, carried out and filed prior to the harvesting of the vines in question. These limits may be adjusted in line with changing climate conditions.
Even when enrichment with dry sugar (chaptalization
) has been authorized, a maximum total alcoholic strength by volume of 12.5% may not be exceeded.
Sugar content
The Touraine-Amboise AOC wines cannot be considered properly matured if their sugar content is less than 153 grams per litre of must. For sparkling white wines the amount should be 136 grams per litre of must.
Touraine AOC wines
rock, and by the Cellier Léonard de Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci Wine Cellar) in Limeray
, a winemaking cooperative
set up in 1931 by Charles Bellamy and some local wine-growers under the name "Cave des vignerons de Limeray" (Limeray Wine-growers Cellar), and renamed in 1995. Customer sales are managed by the Caveau des vignerons d'Amboise (Amboise Wine-growers Vault), located immediately below the Château of Amboise, as well as by various shops in Amboise and the surrounding towns.
Wine fairs are organized on a regular basis at Easter and in the week of 15 August (the Feast of the Assumption is a public holiday in France), and are held in a tunnel dug out of the tuffeau rock beneath the Château of Amboise.
The first or second Sunday of July is reserved for a gourmet walk of about 5 km around the vineyards of the village of Limeray. The walk is in aid of humanitarian causes and is organized with the help of the Lions Club of Amboise les Deux Vallées
. This gives the wine-growers
, in conjunction with the Commanderie des Grans Vins d'Amboise (the Order of the Great Wines of Amboise) and the region's gastronomical guilds, an opportunity to showcase local wines and other specialities from the Touraine region.
, honorary president of the Syndicat des Vins de Touraine Amboise (Touraine-Amboise wine-growers' union).
The Order derives its name from an order of the Hospitaller Knights of St John of Jerusalem,Elle avait pour nom exact « Commanderie de Saint-Jean de l'Isle-lès-Amboise » who were based on the Ile d'OrAnciennement appelée île saint-Jean du fait de la présence de cette commanderie (Island of Gold), at the foot of the Château of Amboise, during the Middle Ages
. The Order has as its motto "Nos Roys l'ont aymé" (mediaeval French for "Our kings loved it"), a reference to Louis XI's charter
decreeing that Amboise wine should be sold before all other kinds at the market in Tours
. The order's purpose is to promote wines from the Touraine-Amboise appellation area in Europe and throughout the world.
Under the terms of a ministerial order issued on 11 August 2003 http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf//jopdf/2003/143/JO200314360ALL.pdf, the Order is one of ten French guilds for the promotion of fine wines that are authorized to confer competition prize-winning honours, in this case "Bacchus d'Or" (Golden Bacchus), on still wines.
Traditionally the Order holds two chapter meetings each year:
. His heroine, Mélie, lived half way up a hillside in a cave-dwelling between the hamlets of Fourchette and Moncé in Limeray
, right in the heart of the present AOC wine-growing area. Her job was to carry the soil washed down the hillsides by the rain back up the slopes again, earthing up the base of each vine. The small basket she used was known locally as a "buttelet", and is the root of the word "buttelière" (basket carrier), Mélie's job title. By depicting a few brief scenes from her existence, the author painted a vivid picture of the lives and characterful speech of the local wine-growing community in the early 20th century.
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...
(AOC) for in the Loire Valley wine region
Loire Valley (wine)
The Loire Valley wine region includes the French wine regions situated along the Loire River from the Muscadet region near the city of Nantes on the Atlantic coast to the region of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé just southeast of the city of Orléans in north central France. In between are the regions of...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. It is situated within the wider Touraine AOC
Touraine AOC
Touraine is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée in the Loire Valley wine region in France that produce dry, white wines and red wines rich in tannins. The AOC status was awarded by a decree of December 24, 1939...
wine appellation. It is produced by ten communes bordering both sides of the River Loire
Loire (river)
The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of , it drains an area of , which represents more than a fifth of France's land area. It is the 170th longest river in the world...
. To their west lies the town of Amboise
Amboise
Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire River, east of Tours. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court...
with its famous royal château
Château d'Amboise
The royal Château at Amboise is a château located in Amboise, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France.-Origins and royal residence:...
. Since its separation from the Touraine AOC in 1954, it has constituted an AOC in its own right. Annual production stands at 9,000 hectolitres of wine, spread between red, rosé, and still white wines. Effervescent wines are also produced within this AOC's boundaries, but they are not entitled to use the Touraine-Amboise appellation, belonging instead to the Touraine appellation.
Prehistory and Antiquity
There is evidence that people were living on the sloping hillsides of this middle stretch of the Loire as early as palaeolithic and neolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
times. The Châtelliers plateau, on the edge of which the Château of Amboise is built, contains one of the Loire region's most important Chasséen
Chasséen culture
Chasséen culture is the name given to the archaeological culture of prehistoric France of the late Neolithic , roughly between 4500 BC and 3500 BC...
neolithic sites. An axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
made with local stone and a dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
made with stone from the Grand-Pressigny
Le Grand-Pressigny
Le Grand-Pressigny is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.Grand Pressigny is the name of a Chalcolithic flint mine located in the commune. It produced an unusual caramel-coloured stone which appears to have been highly-prized across Europe with examples found in the...
region, have been discovered to the west of the market town of Limeray. Significant permanent settlements seem to have grown up at the start of the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
(approximately 5,000 years BC), while large-scale planting of the valleys dates from the final period of the Bronze Age, between 1,200 and 750 BC. At that time, following the last glacial period, vines already existed in their wild state as a kind of creeper growing on the edges of forests and on stony soils, but wine-making was as yet undiscovered.
In the first century AD the geographer, Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
(23-79 AD), described wine-growing
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
in Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
as well-developed, but made no specific mention of wines produced along the banks of the Loire. Whereas the Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
wine-growing area dates back to the Roman occupation, popular tradition links the start of vine cultivation in the province of Touraine
Touraine
The Touraine is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, the Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher and Indre.-Geography:...
(in the middle section of the Loire's course) to the founding of Marmoutier Abbey
Marmoutier Abbey
Marmoutier Abbey can refer to:* Marmoutier Abbey * Marmoutier Abbey...
by St Martin
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
in 372 AD. The fall of the Roman empire
Decline of the Roman Empire
The decline of the Roman Empire refers to the gradual societal collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Many theories of causality prevail, but most concern the disintegration of political, economic, military, and other social institutions, in tandem with foreign invasions and usurpers from within the...
, and the turbulent centuries of the early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
that followed, interrupted the development of wine production, and the use of wine was restricted to religious practices and medical applications, in both cases dispensed by monasteries. This was documented by Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours.-Life:...
, writing about meals at Marmoutier Abbey at the end of the 4th century: "Everyone gathered to break the fast and eat together; there was no wine provided except when illness demanded it". Several legends about the effects of drinking wine or pruning vines are linked to St Martin of Tours.
Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. One can only make deductions from what is known of the wine-growing history of the region, and assume that local circumstances would not have differed greatly.
In the High Middle Ages, the oldest record seems to be that of Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
who described the damage caused to the vines by bad weather in the spring of 587. He refers on several occasions to vines growing near to the Basilica of St Martin of Tours
Basilica of St. Martin, Tours
.Basilica of St. Martin, is a Roman Catholic basilica dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, on whose tomb it was built. It is located in Tours, France....
. At the time the Basilica owned the villa at Nazelles
Nazelles-Négron
Nazelles-Négron is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
close to Amboise, but there is no way of ascertaining whether the latter was planted with vines at that period.
From the 11th century onwards the majority of monasteries and abbeys strung out along the banks of the Loire
Loire (river)
The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of , it drains an area of , which represents more than a fifth of France's land area. It is the 170th longest river in the world...
were involved in wine-growing, taking full advantage of the opportunity for transporting wine by river. A text dating from this time describes how a cleric from Chinon
Chinon
Chinon is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France well known for Château de Chinon.In the Middle Ages, Chinon developed especially during the reign of Henry II . The castle was rebuilt and extended, becoming one of his favorite residences...
used this mode of transport to take his wine to Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
.Issue de La vie et les miracles de saint Mexme XIe, cité dans Les vins de Loire, Éditions Montalba, 1979, p.31
Renaissance
The popularity of Touraine wines was due in no small part to the earthy writings of the French author, Rabelais, and his panegyric, "The Divine Bottle":Contained within your loins,
Bacchus, conqueror of India,
Lies all truth enclosed.
Amboise wines were especially enjoyed by the French king, Louis XI, who published a charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
stipulating that Amboise wines should be sold before all other wines at the market in Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
. In 1477 he also introduced an annual gift of one hundred muids (one muid equalled eight French cubic feet) of wine to the monks of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
Church. Touraine wine was also routinely served at the table of the French king, François I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, who was apparently moved to comment: "Even though I was not born in Amboise, I grew up there, and all my life the taste of that divine draft from the beautiful city of Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
, so dear to my heart, has remained with me".
Modern Period
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
Avant 1674, il s'agissait de l'ancienne lieue de Paris, d'une longueur de mètres, soit une distance d'environ 65 km. of the city.Interdiction annulée en 1776 par un édit royal. Since the Loire Valley
Loire Valley
The Loire Valley , spanning , is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. Its area comprises approximately . It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, asparagus, and...
was easily accessible by road from the capital, demand rapidly increased firstly in the province of Orléanais
Orléanais
Orléanais is a former province of France, around the cities of Orléans, Chartres, and Blois.The name comes from Orléans, its main city and traditional capital. The province was one of those into which France was divided before the French Revolution...
, then in the province of Touraine. The second factor was the popularity of the Loire Valley's white wines with Dutch buyers. The latter installed agents, charged with overseeing their imports at close quarters, in several Loire Valley
Loire Valley
The Loire Valley , spanning , is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. Its area comprises approximately . It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, asparagus, and...
trading posts, including Amboise
Amboise
Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire River, east of Tours. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court...
.
To all intents and purposes, the Dutch agents were middle-men, stocking and selling on French wines to the whole world and making a considerable profit in the process. Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing...
(Louis XIV's finance minister) attempted to break their monopoly by creating a trading company that could deal directly with the markets. The Dutch retaliated by levying a heavy surcharge on various French manufactured articles, as well as French brandy and wine. Exports slowed down, with the regrettable result that the focus of production shifted from quality to quantity. A further undesirable effect was that cereal crops were often abandoned in favour of wine-growing, regardless of the land's suitability.
Contemporary History
At the start of the 19th century wine-growing became one of the mainstays of the local economy. For this reason the devastation caused by the dual scourge of mildewMildew
Mildew refers to certain kinds of molds or fungi.In Old English, it meant honeydew , and later came to mean mildew in the modern sense of mold or fungus....
and phylloxera
Phylloxera
Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...
that hit the region in 1882 came as a particularly heavy blow. The extent of the damage was even greater because the wine-growers initially refused to pull up their vines, trying instead to treat them with carbon disulfide
Carbon disulfide
Carbon disulfide is a colorless volatile liquid with the formula CS2. The compound is used frequently as a building block in organic chemistry as well as an industrial and chemical non-polar solvent...
, though without success.
- "As far as the phylloxera is concerned, the wine-growers were wrong, at the start, not to fight it.They allowed it to get completely out of hand. Nevertheless the wine-growers' unions have succeeded at many levels in keeping production at full capacity. In the Touraine area, however, there is no such flurry of activity. In his report to the General Council of the department of Indre-et-Loire, the Prefet (official in charge of a French department) does not even mention the situation. The general reaction is one of complete indifference. The local temperament militates against any attempt to take effective action, and at the same time political animosities are distracting everyone from the true problems of this region. However, the Touraine wine-growing area has already lost many vines and there are frequent cases of vines being pulled up.En fait près de la moitié des vignes seront arrachées A vast fortune is disappearing".There is, however, a vine in the Touraine region, planted around 1850 and rediscovered in 1998, that successfully resisted phylloxera and is now probably the oldest vine in France.
Following the introduction of new grape varieties, grafted onto American rootstocks, the vineyards were built up again between 1901 and 1905. In spite of these measures, the decline continued with a series of crises caused firstly by the collapse of stock market prices in 1906-1907, then by over-production in 1922-1923. It was only after the Second World War that the tide began to turn, thanks to improvements in quality due to the use of "noble" grape varieties, and increased demand for quality effervescent wines as an alternative to Champagne (wine)|Champagne]]. The growth of tourism was also a crucial in boosting sales of the wine produced.
Award of AOC status
In 1954, the wine-growing area located around the Château d'Amboise
Château d'Amboise
The royal Château at Amboise is a château located in Amboise, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France.-Origins and royal residence:...
, which was originally classed as part of the "Coteaux-de-Touraine" AOC
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...
by the decree passed on 24 December 1939, was granted its own appellation of Touraine-Amboise. The new appellation originally covered nine communes in the department of Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
, three on the left bank of the Loire
Loire (river)
The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of , it drains an area of , which represents more than a fifth of France's land area. It is the 170th longest river in the world...
(Amboise
Amboise
Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire River, east of Tours. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court...
, Chargé
Chargé
Chargé is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
and Mosnes
Mosnes
Mosnes is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
) and six on the right bank (Cangey
Cangey
Cangey is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
, Limeray
Limeray
Limeray is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
, Pocé-sur-Cisse
Pocé-sur-Cisse
Pocé-sur-Cisse is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
, Nazelles-Négron
Nazelles-Négron
Nazelles-Négron is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
, Saint-Ouen-les-Vignes
Saint-Ouen-les-Vignes
Saint-Ouen-les-Vignes is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-References:*...
and Montreuil-en-Touraine
Montreuil-en-Touraine
Montreuil-en-Touraine is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
). The commune of Saint-Règle
Saint-Règle
Saint-Règle is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-References:*...
(on the left bank) was added to the appellation by the decree of 2 August 2005. In 1967 the Commanderie des Grands Vins d'Amboise (the Order of the Great Wines of Amboise) was established to ensure that the wines were well promoted.
Etymology
The etymological origins of the Touraine-Amboise appellation are relatively self-explanatory. It is made up of the name of the former province of TouraineTouraine
The Touraine is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, the Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher and Indre.-Geography:...
(which derived its name from its Gallic inhabitants, the Turones
Turones
The Turones were a Celtic tribe of pre-Roman Gaul. They gave their name to the French town Tours.For their exploits in the medieval mythologies concerning Brutus of Troy, see Goffar the Pict....
Selon certaines sources, l'oppidum d'Amboise pourrait même avoir été la cité d'origine des Turones), combined with the name of the town of Amboise, the most famous of the appellation's constituent communes.
Geographical location
Orography
The territory of the communes of the Touraine-Amboise AOC consists primarily of a plateauPlateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
that lies between 105 and 130 metres above sea level. This is divided in two by the wide valley of the Loire, which lies, on average, at about 55 metres above sea level and is bordered on either side by often steeply sloping hillsides.
Geology
The wide valley of the Loire is made up of a mixture of sandSand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
and silt
Silt
Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
that is carried along by the river. The slopes on either side are made up of a mixture of clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
s and other elements that have come down from the plateau areas. The wine-growing area is mainly located on the two halves of the plateau and, occasionally, on the upper slopes to either side of the valley. The plateau areas are covered in a thin layer of clay-sand silt that has been deposited there by the wind. Beneath this silt lies a polygenetic puddingstone
Puddingstone (rock)
Puddingstone, also known as either Pudding stone or Plum-pudding stone, is a popular name applied to a conglomerate that consists of distinctly rounded pebbles whose colors contrast sharply with the color of the finer-grained, often sandy, matrix or cement surrounding them...
dating from the Upper Eocene
Eocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
Age, mixed with varicoloured clays and small pebbles of rolled silex
Silex
Silex is any of various forms of ground stone. In modern contexts the word refers to a finely ground, nearly pure form of silica or silicate....
, Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
s and quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
grains. The soils of this wine-growing terroir
Terroir
Terroir comes from the word terre "land". It was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular varieties...
can be carbonate, overlying tuffeau stone on the higher slopes, or, more frequently, silicate and fairly heavy, overlying sands and clay gravels.
Climate
The Touraine wine-growing area is located at a point where marineOceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...
and continental
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
influences meet. A series of east-west facing valleys, where the continental influence is less harsh, present ideal conditions for the creation of microclimate
Microclimate
A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
s that are especially favourable to wine-growing.
The nearest weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
with readings that can be accessed is in Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
.
Possible consequences of global warming
According to the conclusions of two studies published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(one of which was conducted by the Colmar
Colmar
Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the capital of the department. Colmar is also the seat of the highest jurisdiction in Alsace, the appellate court....
branch of l'INRA
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
The Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique is a French public research institute dedicated to scientific studies surrounding the problems of agriculture...
(Institut National de Recherche Agronomique or French National Institute for Agricultural Research) on the consequences of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
for wine-growing, the Loire Valley
Loire Valley
The Loire Valley , spanning , is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. Its area comprises approximately . It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, asparagus, and...
wine-growing area should be one of the prime beneficiaries of the gradual increase in temperatures. Basing their calculations on Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
auction statistics, these studies suggest that in the last ten years the optimum temperature for producing quality wine has already been reached in most French wine-growing areas, but that there is a margin for potential improvement of about 0.8 °C along the banks of the Loire. If these conclusions are right, the wines of this region could, in actual fact, reach their peak without the need for any changes in the grape varieties grown.
Wine-growing area
Profile
The wine-growing area, which is located in the department of Indre-et-LoireIndre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
, covers the communes of Amboise
Amboise
Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire River, east of Tours. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court...
, Chargé
Chargé
Chargé is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
, Mosnes
Mosnes
Mosnes is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
, Cangey
Cangey
Cangey is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
, Limeray
Limeray
Limeray is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
, Pocé-sur-Cisse
Pocé-sur-Cisse
Pocé-sur-Cisse is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
, Nazelles-Négron
Nazelles-Négron
Nazelles-Négron is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
, Saint-Ouen-les-Vignes
Saint-Ouen-les-Vignes
Saint-Ouen-les-Vignes is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-References:*...
, Montreuil-en-Touraine
Montreuil-en-Touraine
Montreuil-en-Touraine is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
and Saint-Règle
Saint-Règle
Saint-Règle is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-References:*...
.
It extends over 220 hectares (543.6 acre) and produces 9,000 hectolitres a year, of which 60% goes into red wines, 30% into rosé wines and 10% into white wines.
Grape varieties grown
- Red and rosé wines: a blend of Cabernet FrancCabernet FrancCabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...
, known locally as "Breton", Cabernet SauvignonCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
,Cabernet Sauvignon is tolerated until the 2010 harvest in a proportion of up to 10% CôtMalbecMalbec is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are long known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. The French plantations of Malbec are now found primarily in Cahors in the South West...
and GamayGamayGamay is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar, mentioned as long ago as the 15th century...
Noir. The Cuvée François 1er (François I vintage) is a wine that can only be produced by the wine-growers of the Touraine-Amboise AOC. It is a blend of Gamay, Cabernet and Côt grape varieties. - Whites wines, still and effervescent (traditional method): Chenin BlancChenin BlancChenin blanc , is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled...
, known locally as "Pineau de la Loire". - Crémants de Loire (sparking wines produced using traditional methods): a blend of Chenin Blanc and ChardonnayChardonnayChardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...
with the addition of small amounts of Cabernet FrancCabernet FrancCabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...
and Pinot NoirPinot NoirPinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
.
Planting
The density of planting must be at least 4,500 vines per hectare, the maximum distance between rows being 2.1 metres. The bottom wire of the trellis must be no more than 0.55 metres above the ground. The AOC status only applies to wines produced from the harvest gathered two years after the year in which the vines were planted (before the 31st August).Pruning
Pruning generally takes place once the leaves have fallen in November, and continues throughout the winter months. Mechanized pre-pruning is carried out first, using a high-clearance tractor, and this cuts the time spent pruning manually by about a quarter. The following pruning methods are permitted:- The so-called "Guyot simple" or "Single Guyot" pruning: a single cane with five to eight buds and a single spur with one to three buds, the maximum total of renewal buds allowed per vine being eleven;
- The Taille à trois bras or Three-armed pruning: a long branch with a maximum of seven renewal buds, and spurs, each with a maximum of three renewal buds, totalling no more than eleven renewal buds per vine.
- The Taille courte or Short pruning: spurs bearing a maximum of three renewal buds and one optional spur bearing four renewal buds, the total number of renewal buds allowed per vine being no more than thirteen.
The numbers of buds stipulated above apply to vines spaced up to one metre apart within the row. The number of buds per vine may be increased by one renewal bud for every 0.2 metres of additional spacing.
Pruning has become less strenuous and time-consuming since the introduction of electric and pneumatic secateurs
Loppers
Loppers are a type of scissors used for pruning twigs and small branches. They are the largest type of manual garden cutting tool. They are usually operated with two hands, and with handles around 65 cm long to give good leverage...
. The cuttings produced by pruning are shredded to form a mulch or burnt in situ. Pruning and trellising are the only tasks that wine-growers still carry out completely by hand.
Cultivation
The work of cultivation falls into two main categories:- Mechanized operations, such as ploughing, which aerates the soil and helps to keep down the weeds, and hedging, which removes the upper sections of the shoots in order to increase the vines' exposure to the sun and make them less susceptible to disease.
- Chemical treatments, using spesticidesPesticidePesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
and herbicideHerbicideHerbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant...
s, in order to protect the vines against cryptogamic diseases such as mildewMildewMildew refers to certain kinds of molds or fungi.In Old English, it meant honeydew , and later came to mean mildew in the modern sense of mold or fungus....
, oidiumOidiumThis article is about a type of fungal spore. For the ascomycete genus, see Oidium . For the fungus that causes powdery mildew on grapes, see Uncinula necator....
, grey rot, etc., and against insectInsectInsects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s such as the EudemisEudemisEudemis is a genus of moths belonging to the subfamily Olethreutinae of the family Tortricidae.-Species:*Eudemis brevisetosa Oku, 2005*Eudemis centritis *Eudemis gyrotis *Eudemis lucina Liu & Bai, 1982...
and the CochylisCochylisCochylis is a genus of moths belonging to the subfamily Tortricinae of the family Tortricidae.-Species:*Cochylis aestiva *Cochylis aethoclasma Diakonoff, 1976*Cochylis amoenana Kennel, 1899...
. Every effort is made to minimize the environmental effects of these procedures.
Harvesting
The harvest usually begins in the second week of September and continues through to the first weeks of October. Over the last fifteen years or so, the use of mechanized harvesters has become increasingly common, especially since virtually all the wine-growing area lies on level ground. As a result manual harvesting has virtually died out.Wine-making and maturing
The following are the usual wine-making methods employed. However, it should be remembered that there can be slight variations in the methods used by individual wine-makers within the AOC.Red wine-making
The grapes are harvest
Harvest
Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
ed, either manually or by machine, when they are fully ripe. Sometimes grapes that have been harvested manually are sorted, either on the vines or at a sorting table on the wine-maker's premises, to ensure that rotten or insufficiently ripe grapes are removed. Grapes that have been harvested manually are usually crushed, then transferred to a tank. Pre-fermentation cold maceration is sometimes carried out. Alcoholic fermentation
Ethanol fermentation
Ethanol fermentation, also referred to as alcoholic fermentation, is a biological process in which sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose are converted into cellular energy and thereby produce ethanol and carbon dioxide as metabolic waste products...
can then begin, normally after the addition of yeast. The next stage is the extraction of polyphenols (tannins and anthocyanins) and other chemical constituents of the grapes. In the past this was carried out by a process called pigeage, which involved repeatedly pushing the floating cap of grape solids back down into the fermenting juice. Now, however, extraction is normally brought about by a series of remontages. This involves pumping the juice from the bottom of the tank, then pouring it over the cap of grape solids to wash out the grapes' distinctive constituents. The temperature for alcoholic fermentation can be varied, but the normal average temperature at the height of fermentation is between 28 and 35 degrees Celsius. If the naturally generated temperature is too low, chaptalization
Chaptalization
Chaptalization is the process of adding sugar to unfermented grape must in order to increase the alcohol content after fermentation. The technique is named after its developer, the French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal...
may be carried out. This practice is subject to external regulations. Once alcoholic fermentation has finished, the liquid is removed from the tank and separated into free-run wine and press wine. Malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation is a process in winemaking where tart-tasting malic acid, naturally present in grape must, is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. Malolactic fermentation tends to create a rounder, fuller mouthfeel. It has been said that malic acid tastes of green apples...
may take place next, but is dependent on temperature. The wine is drawn off and stored in barrels or vats to be matured. The maturing process takes several months (6 to 24 months), after which the wine is fined, filtered and bottled.
Rosé wine-making
Harvesting
Harvest (wine)
The harvesting of wine grapes is one of the most crucial steps in the process of winemaking. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to...
is manual or mechanized. Two different methods may be used, either the direct pressing method (to produce a pressed rosé wine) or the method whereby the harvested red grapes are put in a tank and red wine maceration begins, but some of the juice is then bled off (to produce a bled rosé wine). Alcoholic fermentation takes place in tanks, as for white wine, and temperatures, chaptalization
Chaptalization
Chaptalization is the process of adding sugar to unfermented grape must in order to increase the alcohol content after fermentation. The technique is named after its developer, the French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal...
, etc. are carefully controlled. This is followed by malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation is a process in winemaking where tart-tasting malic acid, naturally present in grape must, is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. Malolactic fermentation tends to create a rounder, fuller mouthfeel. It has been said that malic acid tastes of green apples...
. The wine is matured in vats, or sometimes in barrels. Lastly, the wine is filtered and bottled.
White wine-making
As with red wine-making, harvesting is manual or mechanized, and may include sorting. The grapes are then transferred into a press to be pressed. Once the grape must is in the tank, the sludge is removed, normally after certain enzymes have been added. At this stage pre-fermentation cold stabulation (at temperatures between 10 and 12 °C for several days) may be carried out in order to promote the extraction of aromas. Normally, however, after 12 to 48 hours, the clear juice is drawn off and left to ferment. Alcoholic fermentation continues under supervision, particular attention being paid to the temperature, which must remain more or less stable (between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius). If necessary, chaptalization is also carried out in order to boost the alcoholic strength by volume. Malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation is a process in winemaking where tart-tasting malic acid, naturally present in grape must, is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. Malolactic fermentation tends to create a rounder, fuller mouthfeel. It has been said that malic acid tastes of green apples...
and maturing then take place in barrels or in vats. Once this process is completed, the wine is filtered in order to clarify it. The final stage of the whole operation is the bottling of the wine.
Yields
The minimum and maximum yieldYield (wine)
In viticulture, the yield is a measure of the amount of grapes or wine that is produced per unit surface of vineyard, and is therefore a type of crop yield...
s for the AOC, stipulated by the decree of 12 July 1994, are as follows:
| Yield per hectare | Red | Rose | White | Sparkling |
| Performance Based | 55 hl/ha | 55 hl/ha | 60 hl/ha | 78 hl/ha |
| Return target | 67 hl/ha | 67hl/ha | 70 hl/ha | 78 hl/ha |
Minimum and maximum alcoholic strength by volume
The Touraine-Amboise AOC wines must come from well-ripened grape harvests and must have the following natural alcoholic strengths by volume:| alcohol by volume | Red | Rose | White | Sparkling |
| Minimal | 9.5% vol | 9.5% vol | 10% vol | 8.5% vol |
| Maximum | 12.5% vol | 12.5% vol | 12.5% vol | 12.5% vol |
The upper limit may be exceeded, provided the wine has been made without enrichment of any kind, and provided an investigation by the INAO
Institut National des Appellations d'Origine
The Institut National des Appellations d'Origine is the French organization charged with regulating French agricultural products with Protected Designations of Origin . Controlled by the French government, it forms part of the Ministry of Agriculture...
has been requested by the wine-grower, carried out and filed prior to the harvesting of the vines in question. These limits may be adjusted in line with changing climate conditions.
Even when enrichment with dry sugar (chaptalization
Chaptalization
Chaptalization is the process of adding sugar to unfermented grape must in order to increase the alcohol content after fermentation. The technique is named after its developer, the French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal...
) has been authorized, a maximum total alcoholic strength by volume of 12.5% may not be exceeded.
Sugar content
The Touraine-Amboise AOC wines cannot be considered properly matured if their sugar content is less than 153 grams per litre of must. For sparkling white wines the amount should be 136 grams per litre of must.
Terroir and wines
The soil is made up of alternating "perruches" and "aubuis" soils, as they are called in French. Perruches are clays combined with silica, which warm up quickly and are the reason why these wines have a flinty taste. Aubuis are a mixture of permeable, fertile, calcereous clays, which give the wine its powerful character and are perfectly suited to white grape varieties.Business structure
One of the features of this AOC is the large number of small family concerns, despite the gradual disappearance of very small plots farmed by retired people or those in paid employment, for whom wine-production was only a means of supplementing their main income.Types of wines
- The red wines are fruity and balanced with depth of colour. They should be served at between 14 °C and 16 °C and can be used as an accompaniment to game, meats and cheeses. They can be kept on average for 2 to 5 years, longer for batches that have been aged in oak barrels.
- The rosé wines come from the same grape varieties as the red wines, but have a shorter maceration period and are bottled very much sooner. They have aromas of small red fruits, and should be served at between 10 °C and 12 °C. They complement starters and grilled meats.
- The still white wines are either dry, medium dry, or medium sweet, depending on the amount of sunshine the grapes have absorbed. They have a supple, sometimes dense taste, with fresh fruit and citrus aromas. The dry wines should be served at 10 °C with fish and seafood, while the medium dry wines are better suited to fish prepared with a sauce or to cooked and cured meats. The medium sweet wines go particularly well with foie gras and desserts. Alternatively they can be served as an aperitif. On average they can be kept for between 2 and 5 years.
Touraine AOC wines
- The effervescent wines carry the double designation of "Méthode Traditionnelle" (produced by traditional methods), which means that they are very fruity and ideal for the preparation of kirs, and "Crémant de Loire" (or sparkling wine from the Loire region) which makes them the ideal way to end a meal.
Marketing
Marketing is largely carried out directly by the wine-growers from their wine cellars that are usually hollowed out of the local tuffeauTufa
Tufa is a variety of limestone, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from ambient temperature water bodies. Geothermally heated hot-springs sometimes produce similar carbonate deposits known as travertine...
rock, and by the Cellier Léonard de Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci Wine Cellar) in Limeray
Limeray
Limeray is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
, a winemaking cooperative
Winemaking cooperative
A winemaking cooperative is an agricultural cooperative which is involved in winemaking, and which in similarity to other cooperatives is owned by its members...
set up in 1931 by Charles Bellamy and some local wine-growers under the name "Cave des vignerons de Limeray" (Limeray Wine-growers Cellar), and renamed in 1995. Customer sales are managed by the Caveau des vignerons d'Amboise (Amboise Wine-growers Vault), located immediately below the Château of Amboise, as well as by various shops in Amboise and the surrounding towns.
Wine fairs are organized on a regular basis at Easter and in the week of 15 August (the Feast of the Assumption is a public holiday in France), and are held in a tunnel dug out of the tuffeau rock beneath the Château of Amboise.
The first or second Sunday of July is reserved for a gourmet walk of about 5 km around the vineyards of the village of Limeray. The walk is in aid of humanitarian causes and is organized with the help of the Lions Club of Amboise les Deux Vallées
Lions Clubs International
Lions Clubs International is a secular service organization with over 44,500 clubs and more than 1,368,683 members in 191 countries around the world founded by Melvin Jones Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, the organization aims to meet the needs of communities on a local and...
. This gives the wine-growers
Winemaker
A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:*Cooperating with viticulturists...
, in conjunction with the Commanderie des Grans Vins d'Amboise (the Order of the Great Wines of Amboise) and the region's gastronomical guilds, an opportunity to showcase local wines and other specialities from the Touraine region.
The Order of the Great Wines of Amboise
La Commanderie des Grands Vins d'Amboise (the Order of the Great Wines of Amboise) is a guild for the promotion of fine wines founded on the 15th April, 1967 by a team of wine-growers who were backed by Michel DebréMichel Debré
Michel Jean-Pierre Debré was a French Gaullist politician. He is considered the "father" of the current Constitution of France, and was the first Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic...
, honorary president of the Syndicat des Vins de Touraine Amboise (Touraine-Amboise wine-growers' union).
The Order derives its name from an order of the Hospitaller Knights of St John of Jerusalem,Elle avait pour nom exact « Commanderie de Saint-Jean de l'Isle-lès-Amboise » who were based on the Ile d'OrAnciennement appelée île saint-Jean du fait de la présence de cette commanderie (Island of Gold), at the foot of the Château of Amboise, during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. The Order has as its motto "Nos Roys l'ont aymé" (mediaeval French for "Our kings loved it"), a reference to Louis XI's charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
decreeing that Amboise wine should be sold before all other kinds at the market in Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
. The order's purpose is to promote wines from the Touraine-Amboise appellation area in Europe and throughout the world.
Under the terms of a ministerial order issued on 11 August 2003 http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf//jopdf/2003/143/JO200314360ALL.pdf, the Order is one of ten French guilds for the promotion of fine wines that are authorized to confer competition prize-winning honours, in this case "Bacchus d'Or" (Golden Bacchus), on still wines.
Traditionally the Order holds two chapter meetings each year:
- The rotating chapter in honour of St VincentVincent of SaragossaSaint Vincent of Saragossa, also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon, is the patron saint of Lisbon. His feast day is 22 January in the Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Communion and 11 November in the Eastern Orthodox Churches...
, patron saint of wine-growers, which moves between each of the ten communes of the appellation in turn. At this chapter meeting the most long-standing and most well-deserving wine-growers in the village are honoured. - The harvest chapter meeting, held in the Croix-Douillard wine cellars in Amboise, at which wine-growers can be enthroned at their own request.
Touraine-Amboise wines in French literature
The writer of regional literature, Robert Morin (1893–1925) was the author of Mélie Buttelière (Mélie the Basket Carrier), which was published posthumously in 1926. In the 1920s Morin lived in the Ménard manor house at Pocé-sur-CissePocé-sur-Cisse
Pocé-sur-Cisse is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
. His heroine, Mélie, lived half way up a hillside in a cave-dwelling between the hamlets of Fourchette and Moncé in Limeray
Limeray
Limeray is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France....
, right in the heart of the present AOC wine-growing area. Her job was to carry the soil washed down the hillsides by the rain back up the slopes again, earthing up the base of each vine. The small basket she used was known locally as a "buttelet", and is the root of the word "buttelière" (basket carrier), Mélie's job title. By depicting a few brief scenes from her existence, the author painted a vivid picture of the lives and characterful speech of the local wine-growing community in the early 20th century.