The Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny zones, trapped in the hinterland between the cities of Tours and Orleans, are often grouped into the wider Touraine area on maps and wine lists. These range from the dry, fruity reds of Chinon, Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil to the diverse whites of Vouvray and Montlouis. There are also several appellations within its borders which are more specific in terms of both location and wine style. The above grape varieties are used, plus the less-favored Grolleau Noir and Pineau d'Aunis, and even Pinot Meunier. Touraine rosés account for about 10 percent of production. Cabernet Franc and Malbec (known here as Côt) are also used in red wines, with smaller proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. The red grape counterparts are led by Gamay which is planted in 21 percent of Touraine's vineyard area. Sauvignon Gris is also grown in a few vineyards. Chardonnay is allowed to form up to 20 percent of blends, and accounts for 3 percent of vineyard area.Ī little Arbois (or Orbois) is also grown here – it was once the most common varierty in the Loir et Cher département in which part of the Touraine zone lies. Chenin Blanc comes a distant second at 7 percent. The white wines are most commonly based on Sauvignon Blanc, which accounts for 43 percent of all Touraine plantings. Whites account for 59 percent of production, reds for 22, rosé for eight and sparkling 11 percent. Wines made under the Touraine regional appellation may be white, red, rosé or sparkling (in all three colors). Beyond this the river continues into the adjacent Anjou district. The district follows the Loire river for roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles), from Blois in the east to Chinon and Bourgueil in the west. This covers the entire district with around 5000 hectares (12,350 acres) of designated vineyards. A similarly modeled site,, focuses on Sonoma County wine country.Touraine has its own generic regional appellation. It’s a bit slow and clumsy to move between pages and you’ll need some patience to navigate and wait for a new page load, but may be useful for initial wine-themed trip planning. You can also hone your search through regional filters that cover most wine-producing regions of the world and even down to the appellation level. A combination of hovering over the icon and zooming in will activate a popup info box with the name and address of the site. offers a view of wineries and wine bars, identified by icons on a map. The site is a little rudimentary and confusing to navigate-almost like he started something cool then abandoned it when technology got more sophisticated, but it’s a fun poke around with a glass of wine. Master sommelier Fernando Betata hosts a series of interactive maps on his site, some of which are Google Earth tours of regions (Germany, Burgundy’s Cote de Nuits, Madeira and Santorini) and others that use Google Earth-type technology to zoom in and out and offer popups with appellation-specific information such as notable vineyards, area size, soil, stylistic notes. Honing in on a specific AVA brings up options to see the legislation that designated the AVA (Federal Register and other dockets), and what’s cool about that is you can see all the rigorous requirements attached to creating an AVA-distinguishing soil and geology features, climate, elevation, etc. The “Add to my AVA” feature lets you create a reference library. The site contains good, if basic (just the facts, ma’am!), information about existing and proposed AVA boundaries. Not surprisingly, the AVA Map Explorer is a bit of a visual bore, but you can change the base maps to street views, topo maps or satellite. Surprisingly, The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau hosts a pretty decent interactive map of American Viticultural Areas. Basic but accurate information on American Viticultural Areas from the gov.
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