Loire Valley travel guide
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Fancy a Sleeping Beauty château with your crottin? Fiona Sims picks some of the food and wine highlights of the Central and Upper Loire.

Loire Valley travel guide: Six of the best wineries to visit

☆ Domaine Henri Bourgeois, Sancerre

Affable patriarch Jean-Marie Bourgeois has a stake in New Zealand but the real action is in his Loire wines, including Le MD de Bourgeois, from the vertiginous slopes of Les Monts Damnés. henribourgeois.com

☆ Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf, Touraine

Brothers Thierry and Jean-Marie Puzelat tend their 10ha biodynamic Cheverny estate and rent further hectares in AC Touraine, for stellar pétillant naturel and superior blends of the Cot grape. puzelat.com

☆ Domaine de la Noblaie, Chinon

Jérôme Billard makes sparkling Touraine, and white and cherry-packed red Chinon, which you can enjoy on picnic tables (bring your own food) beside his vines. lanoblaie.fr

☆ Domaine Vigneau-Chevreau, Vouvray

One of Vouvray’s biodynamicists. A Cave Touristique, thanks to its atmospheric cellar, it makes affordable sparkling Vouvray and classy, dry Chenins. vigneau-chevreau.com

☆ Domaine de la Paleine, Saumur

The chic little tasting room, in a riverside village near Saumur, is open daily from 9am to 6pm and offers the full range, from Saumur Rouge to top white, Casta Diva. There’s also a smart apartment to rent above. paleine-montsoreau.fr

☆ Domaine de la Butte, Bourgueil

Jacky Blot’s Cabernet Franc is one of the best-rated reds of the Loire. Blot also does a fine Montlouis under his Domaine de la Taille aux Loups label. jackyblot.fr

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Fiona Sims
Fiona Sims
Decanter Magazine, Wine Writer

Fiona Sims is a food, drink and travel writer with 25 years’ experience. Aside from Decanter, she has written for The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, National Geographic Food and The Caterer. As a Decanter contributor, she writes travel, bar and restaurant guides, plus interviews with high-profile wine lovers like William Boyd. She co-founded the website the The2Fionas.com with fellow writer, Fiona Beckett.