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Biking across France - with Wendy Gedney 4

Wendy and her guests complete their tour of France's vineyards with a return to the Loire

It's day 7 on the bikers' tour and that meant an easy drive from Mirambeau to our next stop, Saumur on the Loire. The plan was to visit a sparkling wine producer in the town the next afternoon and for my clients to relax until then. Things didn't turn out that way...

Wendy Gedney wine tour Mirambeau Saumur Saint MaloThe bikers make their way to Saint Malo but the vineyards call once more at Saumur

The weather had finally caught us out. It's at times like these that tour guides earn their money. I needed to find a winery and a restaurant for the next morning but it was Sunday and everywhere was closed.

I love designing new tours so I swung into action and armed with a map of the wine regions I headed out of town and began my exploration. I found a lovely village surrounded by vineyards with what looked like a good auberge.

The next day we would take pot luck and turn up at some of the many vigneron located nearby. My plan worked beautifully and it was one of the best days we had.

We tasted some excellent Chenin including a sweet one labelled AOC Coteaux du Saumur which is very similar to a Coteaux du Layon. There was an explosion of honey and apricot flavours with that biting acidity that sweeps the sugar from your mouth leaving you wondering if the wine was actually dry!

Langlois ChateauThe afternoon tasting was at Langlois-Château in the heart of Saumur where they produce their excellent sparkling wines.

These are matured in cellars carved out of the soft chalk called tuffeau which is also responsible for the some of the flavours and style of this lovely fizz.

Photo: Langlois-Château

Langlois Chateau winePhoto: Langlois-Château makes a range of sparkling whites and rosés as well as traditional reds

Our last two days were spent travelling through the lovely French countryside to reach that historical town of St Malo with a ferry crossing the next day back to Portsmouth.

I had immensely enjoyed this different kind of trip. More importantly my clients had a wonderful time and will have memories to treasure for ever. I'm planning to do more of this type of private tour, perhaps not with motorbikes but certainly to different part of France such as Burgundy, the Rhône and Provence.

There's more about Wendy Gedney's wine tours in the link below together with a selection of Pure France homes near to Saumur and St Malo. It's never too soon to plan next year's holiday!


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