Le Salon des Vins de Thouars – Close to Home

Wine, growers, and unexpected discoveries in the Loire Valley

The Thouars Wine Festival – Le Salon des Vins de Thouars – takes place each year on the last weekend of March. The next will be held on 27, 28 and 29 March 2026 in the Orangerie of the Château in Thouars.

In the spring of 2009, during our first season at Circle of Misse (now Loire Kitchen), we were tilling the soil in our newly staked out vegetable and herb garden in bright late March sunshine. The requisite machinery was on hire for only a few days, so every hour mattered.

We knew the Salon was taking place that weekend, but the garden felt more urgent. On Sunday at lunchtime we stopped, brushed ourselves down as best we could, and decided to head into town “just to have a look.” I assumed it would be a small, very local affair.

Boy, was I wrong!

There were over a hundred producers. Some we already knew. Others we would come to know over the years. We probably looked more ready for the vegetable patch than a wine salon, but that didn’t seem to matter.

We started talking. And tasting. That afternoon changed how we thought about what was happening on our doorstep.

The Wines and Grapes of Our Region

Before I talk about the salon and some of the wine makers, I thought it might be useful to give some background on the style of wines and grape varieties that are most commonly seen here. I have also assigned abbreviations to the grape varieties for clarity in the lists of wines that I rated.

In the Loire we produce still white, rosé, red and orange wine, the latter a relative newcomer. The region is also one of the most famous for sparkling wines “les bulles”. Crémant de Loire is the style most often seen outside of France. White, rosé and even red sparkling wine can be found, though for me red sparkling wine always feels like a bit of a gimmick.

The principal grapes of this part of the Loire include Chenin Blanc (CB), Cabernet Franc (CF) and Sauvignon Blanc (SB).

Then there is a supporting cast of grape varieties: Chardonnay (CH), Cabernet Sauvignon (CS), Melon de Bourgogne (MB), Grolleau Noir (GN), Grolleau Gris (GG), Gamay (GA) and Malbec (MC) – known locally as Côt.

There are also some rarer varieties such as Pineau d’Aunis (PA), Sauvignon Gris (SG), Fié Gris (FG) and Pinot Noir (PN), the latter is starting to appear more often.

The Three Main Grapes

Chenin Blanc is a grape with high acidity. This means it can be used to make a huge variety of wines from dry sparkling wines, through a range of fruity and dry whites, to rich and honeyed dessert wines. Names include: Vouvray, Savennières, Coulée de Serrant, Anjou Blanc, Saumur Blanc, Coteaux du Layon.

Cabernet Franc the principal red grape produces wines that are herbaceous, bursting with berry fruits and hints of violet, generally with softer tannins, except in exceptional years. Names that you might recognise: Anjou Rouge, Saumur Champigny, Saumur Rouge, Chinon, St Nicholas de Bourgueil, Bourgueil. In our particular part of the Loire many producers refer to Cabernet Franc as “Le Breton” and you will often see this name displayed on bottles.

Sauvignon Blanc in and around the Loire is often a crisp and elegant choice. It thrives in cooler years and produces wines with considerable minerality. Familiar names from the Loire include: Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé, Reuilly, Quincy, Menetou Salon, Haut Poitou, Touraine.

What the Salon Is Like

You arrive at the entrance to the Orangerie du Château, pay a modest fee and receive a tasting glass along with a guide listing each producer and their stand number.

Inside it can be busy. Lots of buyers milling around, young porters – mostly students – manoeuvring trolleys laden with cases of wine out towards waiting cars. Conversations overlap. Corks are pulled continuously.

There is a food area offering everything from three course lunches to simple plates and snacks – a useful pause between tastings – and there are also judging events. Thouars awards prizes to attending producers, which adds a degree of friendly competition.

It is organised but not slick. Serious but not solemn.

Over the years I’ve developed relationships with several of the growers who attend. One thing that has been noticeable is the steady increase toward organic and biodynamic viticulture. What once felt marginal is now headed towards the mainstream.

A friend of mine, Laurence, former owner of Domaine Rousselin, once told me that the Salon des Vins de Thouars was the first wine salon in France. I’ve never managed to corroborate that claim. When she told me, I couldn’t quite get my head around it, and I asked her why on earth that wasn’t used more prominently in the marketing materials. She shrugged and said someone had suggested to her that it might be “un peu vulgaire.”

That, in its own way, tells you something about this part of the Loire; not showy, but understated and a little reserved.

A Region of Independent Producers

You won’t find a great many Loire wines in supermarkets or wine shops outside France. The region has a high concentration of independent producers, many working relatively small holdings. They simply don’t have the capacity – or often the inclination – to supply large chains.

That independence brings variety and experimentation. It also means that to understand the Loire, you have to meet the growers.

There are well over a hundred exhibitors at the Salon each year. It would be impossible to cover them all. What follows is simply a selection of six producers whose work reflects what is happening in and around our corner of the Loire.

Les Terres Blanches – Oiron

We have known Céline and Benoît Blet for more than a decade and have been irregular helpers with harvests in and around Oiron.

Harvest is not about picking the prettiest fruit. In some vintages you are lifting small, shrivelled bunches and checking what they smell like. Properly concentrated grapes do not smell of vinegar. They smell of baked apples – rich, sweet, intact.

I once had to explain to a small group of English-speaking pickers that we were not looking for the kind of grapes you would choose in a supermarket. These are not eating grapes. They are smaller, thicker-skinned, and when ready they are concentrated fruit with high levels of sugar, built for fermentation rather than the fruit bowl.

That distinction matters.

When we pour one of their wines at Loire Kitchen, we are not talking in theory. We have seen the fruit that went into it.

Famille Denis (Domaine du Petit Clocher) – Cléré-sur-Layon

The Denis family have been working in the region since 1920 and I have been visiting their winery since the early 90s. Not only do the guys make some extremely well-structured wines, as my guests will tell you, they are very easy on the eye and well-structured themselves.

They have been regular winners at the Concours General Agricole Paris which is one of the most rigorous competitions for winemakers in France. Their wines were formerly offered under the name “Domaine du Petit Clocher”. They bring generational continuity to a region that is constantly evolving.
Their wines demonstrate that heritage and modernity are not opposing forces.

Domaine des Trahan – Cersay

Jean-Marc Trahan was one of the first winemakers in the region to experiment with egg-shaped fermentation vessels. These vessels, made in materials ranging from concrete to ceramic, allow the fermenting juice and the lees (yeast cells left over after fermentation) to circulate naturally with no dead spots. They also help to keep temperatures even with minimal input.

We use many of Jean-Marc’s wines as our house wines at Loire Kitchen.

His approach reflects a wider Loire mindset: respect for tradition, combined with a willingness to innovate and adapt where it makes sense.

Domaine Josselin Bouet – Le Pallet

The wines of Josselin Bouet, particularly for me “Selon Moi,” are part of a new generation of Muscadet gaining serious attention.

Melon de Bourgogne, long underestimated as a grape, is being handled with greater precision and ambition. The results are wines with texture, salinity and ageing potential that challenge old assumptions.

Domaine des Venelles – Oiron

Clément Bos represents a younger generation of organic producers. In September 2024 he took over the winery formerly run by the Gigon family, following the untimely death of his uncle François Gigon.

Transitions like this are never simple. But they are part of the Loire story – continuity, adaptation, responsibility to land and family.

Clément’s first vintages are already distinctive, it will be interesting to see how his wines develop in the coming years.

Jardins de Fleury – Close to Home

I first tasted a wine from Jardins de Fleury – I believe it was called “Source” – at Le Restaurant de Fontevraud L’Ermitage.

The pairing was served blind, with the identity of the wine revealed only at the end of the course.

When the sommelier finally presented the bottle, I realised I didn’t have my glasses to hand and asked where it came from. He laughed and said, “Ah, it’s from a relatively unknown place, on the edge of a town called Thouars.”

“Really? Where exactly?” I asked, now searching for my glasses. “I live right next to Thouars.”

It turned out to be produced just four kilometres from Loire Kitchen – a comfortable walk.

You do not always need to travel far to find something remarkable.

The Wines and Winemakers of Our Region

What unites them is not uniformity but diversity. That diversity is on display each year in the Orangerie in Thouars.

And each year, it reminds us that we are fortunate to be here.

One of our guests, Yann Bille, also attended this year’s Salon. His account of the afternoon is rather wonderful.