Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
anyway, whether you have a map or a
portable GPS. The landscape will open up
before you, sweeping hills with a textured
patchwork of vine rows, wheat fields, and
prairies of sunflowers. When you reach a
crest, turn around and soak up the won-
der. The mist still lies heavy on the valley,
but the walled medieval town of Sancerre
towers above the wispy haze. Its steep
hills run into other gentler slopes, with the
occasional village and hamlet showing its
rooftops.
The narrow river Loire meanders by. It
continues west as far as the Atlantic, cre-
ating a beautiful valley referred to as the
“garden of France.” Though it's usually
regarded as one area, the Loire Valley is
in fact one very long and lush horizontal
shelf that has its own very distinctive
personality. Sancerre, in the eastern end
of the valley, is very much rural and
unassuming—here you don't find the
grand châteaux and cathedrals that
the western valley is famous for. The Loire
Valley was famous as the summer play-
ground of the French nobility, but Sancerre
is much more humble, and such purity is
reflected in its wine. Sancerre lends its
name to a crisp and elegant Sauvignon
Blanc that the whole world tries to imitate.
The 300-odd wineries around here are
all small and modest, hidden in the hills.
One such place is Domaine Henri Bour-
geois. A family affair that goes back 10
generations, the winery is located in the
hamlet of Chavignol. Its worn vaulted cellar
has intricately carved oak vats (the most
recent barrels were made from a historic
400-year-old oak tree that was felled in a
storm—and, this being France, its chop-
ping-up was nationally televised). The
grapes come from the forbidding hill known
as Mont Damneé—literally “damn moun-
tain,” because its steep incline means back-
breaking work for the harvesters. Here you
can try the famous white, paired with
another national treasure, the locally made,
creamy goat cheese known as Crottin de
Chavignol.
Sancerre itself is a town of narrow
streets tightly packed with tall 17th-cen-
tury stone houses. On the summit there is
a tower that affords 180-degree pan-
oramic views of the area. Numerous
“caves” offer wine tastings; the tourist
office provides a list of other wineries to
visit on foot or on bicycle. Out there in the
hills, your French will be sorely tested—
and also your sense of direction.
Domaine Henri Bourgeois,
Chavi-
gnol (
&
33/2/4878-5320;
www.bourgeois-
sancerre.com).
(
Tours Airport (173km/107 miles).
L
$$$
Chateau de Beaujeu,
18300
Sens Beaujeu, Bourges (
&
33/2/4879-
0507;
www.chateau-de-beaujeu.com). $$
Hotel Le Panoramic,
Rempart des Augus-
tins, Sancerre (
&
33/2/4854-2244;
www.
panoramicotel.com).
France
312
G. H. Mumm
Mumm's the Word
Champagne, France
France's northeastern region of Cham-
pagne has been famous for its wine since
the 3rd century, but it was only in the 18th
century that the region developed its
namesake effervescent sparkling white. It
was some happy monks who learned,
sheerly by accident, how to put fizz in their
wine. When bottles of supposedly still
wine started unexpectedly exploding in
the cellar, they salvaged one to try. It was
