My oenophile brother and I are going to indulge our other vice and
attend the Classic Car Races at LeMans this mid July. Does anyone have
local restaurant recommendations, and Loire wineries? Doug is a
Sancerre person (is that a pun?) and I am partial to the chenin blancs
from that area. Thanks in advance!

Jim

Ronin > wrote in news:478e8f00$0$505$815e3792
@news.qwest.net:

> My oenophile brother and I are going to indulge our other vice and
> attend the Classic Car Races at LeMans this mid July. Does anyone
have
> local restaurant recommendations, and Loire wineries? Doug is a
> Sancerre person (is that a pun?) and I am partial to the chenin
blancs
> from that area. Thanks in advance!
>
> Jim
>
>

Montlouis is a good chenin stay in chenenceau at Le Bon Laboureur nice
restaurant in a decent hotel.

--
Joseph Coulter, cruises and vacations
www.josephcoulter.com

877 832 2021
904 631 8863 cell

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:40:34 -0600, Joseph Coulter
> wrote:

> Ronin > wrote in news:478e8f00$0$505$815e3792
> @news.qwest.net:
>
> > My oenophile brother and I are going to indulge our other vice and
> > attend the Classic Car Races at LeMans this mid July. Does anyone
> have
> > local restaurant recommendations, and Loire wineries? Doug is a
> > Sancerre person (is that a pun?) and I am partial to the chenin
> blancs
> > from that area. Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Jim
> >
> >
>
> Montlouis is a good chenin stay in chenenceau at Le Bon Laboureur nice
> restaurant in a decent hotel.


We didn't stay there, but my wife and I had dinner at Le Bon Laboureur
some years ago. We enjoyed it very much.

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:11:06 -0800
Ronin > wrote:

> My oenophile brother and I are going to indulge our other vice and
> attend the Classic Car Races at LeMans this mid July. Does anyone have
> local restaurant recommendations, and Loire wineries? Doug is a
> Sancerre person (is that a pun?) and I am partial to the chenin blancs
> from that area. Thanks in advance!
>

Hi Jim,

As chance would have it, I was just driving on the Le Mans course 2 weeks
ago... looking for a faucet. Some of the track gets used for the main drag,
with Jersey Barriers to force you through endless traffic circles. (This is
next to the Musée de l'Auto).

Each year we admire the classic cars coming down from the UK: a real
spectacle.

So, from the track you are already on the A28 (practically) towards Tours.
This puts Jasnières within very easy shooting distance, perhaps 15 minutes.
This is the northern-most of the Loire appellations, where some legendary white
is made. Francois Fresneau is making some very good wines. Also his
Coteaux du Loir and Pinor d'Aunis are worth seeking out.

Tours is a little bit of a mess, road construction-wise just now, so unless you've
time to spare I'd recommend sticking to the Vouvray and Montlouis area.
Chinon is always worth a visit but you're likely to sit in some traffic on the
Tours ring road.

If you do get over to Chinon, Baudry is worth a visit, making some very
interesting wines now. Johan Spelty, also.

There are a few "maisons du vin" in the Touraine, some people like to go
to these as a way to explore a lot of the regional wines in one go. Good for
discovery. Many like the Maison du Vin de Saumur on the quai in Saumur,
and I think it's not bad if not up to the welcome at the old syndicate. You
can find more info at http://www.vinsvaldeloire.fr/en_EN/.

As you get up towards Angers there are a lot of interesting stickies. Angers
is also just a hop from Le Mans on the autoroute, although not the same
direction. It seems to me there are a couple of excellent restaurants in
Angers, though I'd have to look up to give you names.

Sorry, Sancerre is not very close.

Oh, in Le Mans avoid at all costs the neighborhood of the train station if
at all possible, at least in the car. They're redoing the station and surrounding
roads, it's a parking lot during the day. (This said very convenient to get to
Le Mans from Roissy CDG by TGV, it's a direct line.)

-E
--
Emery Davis
You can reply to ecom
by removing the well known companies
Questions about wine? Visit http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

On 2008-01-18 00:18:10 -0800, Mike Tommasi > said:

> Emery Davis wrote:
>
>> So, from the track you are already on the A28 (practically) towards Tours.
>> This puts Jasnières within very easy shooting distance, perhaps 15 minutes.
>> This is the northern-most of the Loire appellations, where some legendary white
>> is made. Francois Fresneau is making some very good wines. Also his
>> Coteaux du Loir and Pinor d'Aunis are worth seeking out.
>
> DOmaine de Belliviere also excellent

Thank you all for your suggestions! I'm sure we will check them all
out. As for Sancerre, as we are coming from the West Coast of the US,
(Portland and Berkeley) we are not just going for the weekend - we are
going to nose about for a week or so, then my wife and I are going to
Scotland for a while with kids and grandkids who live in Italy.

On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 09:50:47 -0800
Ronin > wrote:

> On 2008-01-18 00:18:10 -0800, Mike Tommasi > said:
>
> > Emery Davis wrote:
> >
> >> So, from the track you are already on the A28 (practically) towards Tours.
> >> This puts Jasnières within very easy shooting distance, perhaps 15 minutes.
> >> This is the northern-most of the Loire appellations, where some legendary white
> >> is made. Francois Fresneau is making some very good wines. Also his
> >> Coteaux du Loir and Pinor d'Aunis are worth seeking out.
> >
> > DOmaine de Belliviere also excellent
>
> Thank you all for your suggestions! I'm sure we will check them all
> out. As for Sancerre, as we are coming from the West Coast of the US,
> (Portland and Berkeley) we are not just going for the weekend - we are
> going to nose about for a week or so, then my wife and I are going to
> Scotland for a while with kids and grandkids who live in Italy.
>

Sounds like a nice trip. According to viamichelin it is 3h36 minutes from Le Mans
to Sancerre; bearing in mind that the calculation is using speed limits and no
stops, it will almost certainly be a 4 hour drive (there's a lot of National, no passing).
For me that's too far for a day trip given that the A/R is 8 hours in the car, so I'd
look for a place to stay in the Sancerre area.

If you're a fan of Sancerre and you do get out there, you might try to visit Menetou-Salon,
which has very similar character but is less known and hence cheaper.

-E

--
Emery Davis
You can reply to ecom
by removing the well known companies
Questions about wine? Visit http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

Emery Davis wrote:

> Sounds like a nice trip. According to viamichelin it is 3h36 minutes from Le Mans
> to Sancerre; bearing in mind that the calculation is using speed limits and no
> stops, it will almost certainly be a 4 hour drive (there's a lot of National, no passing).
> For me that's too far for a day trip given that the A/R is 8 hours in the car, so I'd
> look for a place to stay in the Sancerre area.
>
> If you're a fan of Sancerre and you do get out there, you might try to visit Menetou-Salon,
> which has very similar character but is less known and hence cheaper.

I'd second that, as I find Sancerre to be close to a wasteland except
for a small number of (pricey) producers in Chavignol. Quincy also has
some interesting wines, but for a week-long journey how about an
excursion the other direction to the Nantais? Are these all going to be
day trips from Le Mans, Ronin? Or are you planning on overnighting
somewhere?

Mark Lipton
--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

On 2008-01-19 11:23:43 -0800, Mark Lipton > said:

> Emery Davis wrote:
>
>> Sounds like a nice trip. According to viamichelin it is 3h36 minutes
>> from Le Mans
>> to Sancerre; bearing in mind that the calculation is using speed limits and no
>> stops, it will almost certainly be a 4 hour drive (there's a lot of
>> National, no passing).
>> For me that's too far for a day trip given that the A/R is 8 hours in
>> the car, so I'd
>> look for a place to stay in the Sancerre area.
>>
>> If you're a fan of Sancerre and you do get out there, you might try to
>> visit Menetou-Salon,
>> which has very similar character but is less known and hence cheaper.
>
> I'd second that, as I find Sancerre to be close to a wasteland except
> for a small number of (pricey) producers in Chavignol. Quincy also has
> some interesting wines, but for a week-long journey how about an
> excursion the other direction to the Nantais? Are these all going to be
> day trips from Le Mans, Ronin? Or are you planning on overnighting
> somewhere?
>
> Mark Lipton

Our usual MO is to have the original couple of days set - in this case
Le Mans, then just follow our noses. Serendipity reigns! Thanks again!