France on Dante Minutello · Wine Tours with a Sommelier

Loire: Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, Vouvray to Chinon

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place#

The Loire is France’s longest river, and the vineyards I visit sit along its middle stretch, from Tours to Angers, through Touraine and Anjou, with a wider range of wine than any other valley in France can show. On the north bank east of Tours is Vouvray; opposite, between the Loire and the Cher, Montlouis-sur-Loire. Downstream the Vienne comes in under the fortress of Chinon, with Bourgueil across the water. An hour further west is Saumur, with the red-wine villages of Saumur-Champigny behind it: Chacé, Varrains, Champigny. Past Angers the rock changes, and Savennières and the Coteaux du Layon belong to Anjou.

Champagne: Vertus, Avize, Aÿ and the chalk beneath Reims

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place#

Champagne begins about 150 kilometres north-east of Paris. Reims has the cathedral, the offices of the big houses and Gallo-Roman chalk pits under the streets that became cellars. Épernay, 25 kilometres south on the Marne, has the Avenue de Champagne, one street of mansions with roughly 110 kilometres of galleries beneath it. This is the corner of France where wine is a business first and a landscape second, and I say that with affection.

Burgundy: Beaune, Gevrey, Meursault and Chablis

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place#

Burgundy, in eastern France, is a narrow idea stretched over 200 kilometres, and I still learn something every time I drive it. Chablis sits alone in the north-west, 130 kilometres from Beaune and nearer Auxerre than Dijon. South of Dijon the Côte d’Or runs for about 50 kilometres as one east-facing escarpment: the Côte de Nuits, from Gevrey-Chambertin past Vosne-Romanée to Nuits-Saint-Georges, then the Côte de Beaune, from Beaune through Pommard and Volnay to Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet.

Beaujolais: Morgon, Fleurie and Gamay on granite

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place#

Beaujolais is the 55 kilometres of hills between the northern edge of Lyon and Mâcon, west of the Saône, in the east of France. The south, the Pierres Dorées, is clay-limestone and golden-stone villages. The north is granite, home of the ten crus and where I spend my time: Villié-Morgon under the Côte du Py, Fleurie under its chapel of La Madone, Odenas and Saint-Lager at the foot of Mont Brouilly, and Beaujeu, the historic capital.

Jura: Arbois, vin jaune and the two schools of Savagnin

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place: the Revermont from Arbois to Rotalier#

The Jura is the smallest wine region I tour in France and the one I find hardest to leave. The vines run in a strip about 80 kilometres long along the Revermont, the western foot of the Jura mountains. Beaune is about 100 kilometres west, and the two regions share Chardonnay and very little else. Under 2,000 hectares are planted in the whole region.