The river Loire begins in the middle of France, near the village of St. Etienne, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean at the city Nantes. The Loire is also called "Le Jardin de la France" (the garden of France). As the area is very vast, nearly 1,000 km long, the climate and the composition of the ground is very different. The most common grape of the wines of the Loire is the Chenin Blanc. It is the primary grape for dry, sweet, semi-sweet and sparkling Loire wines. The excellent ones sometimes can age for more than 20 years. It’s sometimes hard to read the sweetness of the Loire wines from the label, so therefore below you’ll see some terms which indicate the sweetness:
Demi-sec or tendre = semi sweet wine
Moelleux or cuvée moelleusse = fairly sweet wine
Trie de vendange = sweet wine of the grape botrytis

The Loire has four subcategories:
1. Orléans
2. Touraine
3. Anjou / Saumur
4. Pays Nantais

1. Vins du Centre (Orléans)
The most important wine region is located south of the city of Orléans. It is known for its dry white wine made from the Sauvignon grape. The wines have a distinctive aroma, the scent is recognised as gravy, boxwood and gooseberries. The soil contains much lime. These are perfect wines to drink when they are young.

Appellations:
• Sancerre, a wonderful fragrant, fruity dry wine
• Pouilly-sur-Loire, Sauvignon and Chasselas grape, less sophisticated than wine Pouilly-Fume
• Pouilly-Fumé the soil is rich in limestone and flint, taste and smell are spicy, fruity and dry.
• Reuilly, tight dry wine
• Quincy, dry wine
• Sancerre, a wonderful fragrant, fruity dry wine
• Menetou-Salon (fine wines, Sancerre type)

2. Vins de Touraine
The vineyard area between the towns of Blois and Tours consists mostly of white wine. The AOC Touraine Sauvignon is to be found just outside Orléans, but more to the west they use much more the Chenin Blanc grape. Very good wines come from the areas Savennières, Vouvray, Mont-Louis and the Layon Valley. The sparkling (Crémant de Loire) and the sweet ones are very good. South of Tours is a red wine region. Here they use the Cabernet Franc grape, which has that typical and distinctive smell of pencil shavings or a cigar box (cedar). Known appellations are: Chinon and Bourgueil

3. Vins d'Anjou et Saumur
This wine region is situated between the cities of Saumur and Angers. Again, the main grape for red wine is the Cabernet Franc for red wine and the Chenin Blanc for white wine. Coteaux de Saumur and Saumur-Champigny are known as quality wines from this area. The area is also renowned for its lusciously sweet white wine affected by noble pourriture. The best known of these are appellations: Coteaux du Layon, Bonnezeaux, Coteaux du Layon Chaume and Quarts de Chaume. The latter two are brilliant, and have a sweet-sour taste. The western part of this area is known for its rosé d'Anjou, which is made from the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The specials of Anjou / Saumur:
- Noble sweet wines from the regions: Coteaux Layon and Coteaux de l'Aubance
- Dry white wine from Savennièrres, Clos de la Coulee de Serrant and Roche-aux-Moines
- Red wines from Saumur-Champigny
- White and sparkling wines from Saumur
- Rosé Wines from Anjou

4. Pays Nantais
The Loire River flows after 1,000 km at the city of Nantes into the Atlantic Ocean. The sea climate and the two tributaries the Sèvre and the Maine have their influence on viticulture in this area. The Muscat grape (locally called Melon de Bourgogne) is the primary grape in this area around the city of Nantes. Muscadet, as this oldest wine appellation in France is called, produces light, dry and refreshing white wines which are to be drunk young.

Appellations:
- Muscadet Sèvre et-Maine, the largest and most interesting appellation
- Muscadet, simple wines
- Muscadet Coteaux de la Loire, south of Coteaux d'Ancenis where the granite soils give the wines a typical flint aroma.
- Muscadet-Côtes de Grand Lieu, here the bottom contains sand and add a more floral character to the wine
- Muscadet Haute Expression, a new appellation, and is much more a wine to store. After 4 to 5 years the wine fully matures. Only the best vineyards and best wine years, are allowed to make this exclusive wine.
- Muscadet sur lie, the wines have a longer ripening period on the 'lie'. The wine will remain throughout the winter without intermediate transfer to clean barrels and tanks to mature on its dead yeast cells. The wine taste is softer and gentler.

Wine / food combination:
- The dry white wines, are combined with delicious seafood, smoked salmon, fried sole, chicken, guinea fowl and goat cheeses.
- The semi-sweet to sweet white wine tastes good with melon, fish and shellfish sauce, cheese and fruit cake.
- The rosé is a good combination with white meat, poultry, grilled fish, shellfish and fresh goat cheese.
-The red wines are delicious with grilled red meat, poultry, duck pate and cheese.