Vouvray

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The plateau of the appellation is cut by numerous dry valleys or hollows that end in an often sheer cliff face above the Loire valley.
• The plateau's relief is quite pronounced, with elevations ranging from 85 to 110 metres, and cave dwellings and troglodytic houses are hewn into the yellow tuffeau cliffs of the valleys.
• A bed of soft chalk, the Turonian tuffeau, forms the backbone of the plateau, overlain by argillaceous-siliceous deposits from the Senonian, Eocene, and Mio-Pliocene, and capped by Quaternary wind-blown loamy deposits.
• The harvest parcels are located either on the slopes, with clay-limestone soils, or on the plateau edges, with clay-siliceous soils.
• The degraded oceanic climate, at the crossroads of Atlantic and continental influences, receives approximately 680 millimetres of rainfall per year, and the Loire as well as the valleys draining cold air from the slopes play a role as a thermal regulator.

• According to legend, during the founding of the Marmoutier monastery in 372, Saint Martin is said to have introduced the grape varieties and short-pruning techniques still in use today, the greediness of his donkey having revealed the benefits of this pruning method.
• Tuffeau, a soft chalky material outcropping across the plateau, has been hollowed into vast cellars since the Roman period, used for winemaking, the production of sparkling wines, ageing, and storage.
• Production is divided between still wines, approximately 50,000 hectolitres, and sparkling and lightly sparkling wines, nearly 70,000 hectolitres produced.
• A Champenois, Maurice Hamm, whose family was originally from Aÿ in Champagne, introduced the méthode champenoise before the Second World War, transforming the still white wine of Vouvray into a sparkling wine. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)

• Dry still wines generally display fruity and floral aromas in their youth, which may, with ageing, give way to notes of honey or lime blossom.
• Still wines with residual fermentable sugars generally have greater complexity and longer ageing potential, and notes of exotic fruits, toasted almonds, honey, or quince often emerge with time.
• The sparkling wines, with their fine and delicate mousse, are often characterised by notes of fruit or citrus and by a brioche nuance that becomes more pronounced with time.
• The lightly sparkling wines are distinguished by their lower carbon dioxide content and more restrained bubbles, and generally display a more vinous character than the sparkling wines.

• The presence of cellars hewn into the tuffeau is a favourable factor in the development of sparkling wine production, which requires vast, temperature-stable spaces for storage and handling.
• Ageing on laths for at least 12 months contributes to developing the aromas and complexity of the sparkling wines.

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) — approved 29 novembre 2023, JORF 6 décembre 2023
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — InterLoire