Valençay

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The geographical zone forms a vast plateau cut by valleys carved by small watercourses flowing northward, some of which converge in the Fouzon valley running parallel to that of the Cher.
• The appellation extends across the territory of 13 communes in the northern part of the Indre département, as well as that of one commune in Loir-et-Cher, Selles-sur-Cher.
• The vines are preferentially located on the plateau edges exposed by erosion, as well as on the small rises of an enclosed landscape marked by small woodlands and the Valençay forest massif.
• In the southern part of the zone, soils develop in the soft chalky levels of the Turonian, giving rendzinas and calcareous brown soils, as well as in the Upper Cretaceous clay-with-flints, giving leached or erosion brown soils.
• In the northern part of the zone, near the Cher and Fouzon valleys, soils develop mainly in the Berry and Beauce lacustrine limestones of the Eocene and Aquitanian, and more locally in the Burdigalian sandy-clay formations of the Sologne.
• In the south-eastern part of the zone, soils develop in the sandy-clay materials of the detritic Eocene, sometimes displaying a notable gravel content.
• The degraded oceanic climate is distinguished by mean and minimum temperatures slightly higher, and maximum temperatures slightly cooler, during the vine's growing season.

• The earliest known references to vines date back to the tenth century and relate to gifts made to the abbey in the Valençay region, which was then part of the former province of Berry.
• A fifteenth-century notarial deed records numerous vines along the Nahon, and the many references found in documents from subsequent centuries attest at least to the continuity of viticulture.
• In 1876, Jules Guyot noted in his Étude des vignobles de France that the vineyard following the watercourses of the canton of Valençay produces the best wine in the département.
• As owner of the château de Valençay, Talleyrand held around ten hectares of vines on his estate and promoted the wines of Valençay at dinners held in that château.

• The white wines display intense floral aromas of broom and white flowers, sometimes accompanied by a mineral note of gunflint recalling the high flint content of the soils, with a certain roundness on the palate despite their liveliness.
• The red wines are often ruby in colour, with aromas of red berries and morello cherry alongside spicy, fresh notes, and an ageing period of three to five years allows some of them to reveal their full potential.
• The rosé wines are generally light and lively without being aggressive, with well-present aromas of ripe fruit.

• The white wines display floral notes characteristic of clay-limestone soils, or a minerality deriving from soils with a high flint content.
• The red wines produced from shallow soils that warm up quickly display notes of red berries and spice.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in France

Sources

• Product specification (BO Agri, PDF)
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — InterLoire