Promote and enhance local products
The land of Rabelais is fertile and generous. The local producers, wine growers and truffle growers in the lead, are easily the ambassadors of the Chinon region. Many local residents prefer to use short circuits to fill their food baskets. A wide variety of quality products, rich in vitamins and flavors, can be found in direct sales on farms, at open-air markets, in organic stores and in producers' stores. In La Roche-Clermault, there is even a local produce store, Les 4 Saisons, which sells fresh fruit and vegetables, farmhouse meats and cheeses, cereals and organic bread. During the summer season, the Maison de Pays de l'Abbaye de Seuilly also offers a well-stocked section of local products. You can therefore easily stock up on food to prepare your meals and picnics in a sustainable way. These local flavors can also be found at the tables of restaurants that like to indicate the local origin of their ingredients and at the counters of cafés that promote Chinon wines and beers from local microbreweries. In addition, several tourist services make the most of tasting, whether it be boat trips or wine and food outings. Let yourself be guided!
The wine of Chinon, historical AOC and Rabelaisian Entonneurs
The vine has been growing in Chinon since Gallo-Roman times, celebrated by Saint Martin as well as by Charles VII. But its absolute champion remains Rabelais who paid it a heartfelt tribute in his Gargantua. However, Chinon is better known beyond its borders for its wine than for its sumptuous Royal Fortress! Sommeliers give it a good place on their menus and its reputation grows year after year in the USA. In addition, there are 50,000 ambassadors, inducted into the Confrérie des Entonneurs Rabelaisiens, which is dedicated to making it known. This joyful brotherhood, whose chapters are held in the Caves Painctes, a historical place cited in the works of François Rabelais, even has a bailiwick in Germany.
Like the Loire Valley and its many castles, the Chinon appellation produces refined, elegant, sometimes powerful wines. The wine of Chinon, which obtained its AOC Chinon in 1937, is original in many ways. It is a communal appellation, one of the largest in France with 2,400 ha in production. It is also the first red wine appellation of the Loire in volume with 13 million bottles per year. In the heart of the Loire Valley, with the greatest diversity of wines in the world, 800 km of wine roads, 38,000 hectares of AOC and 50 appellations, the vineyard of Chinon is certainly unlike any other. A large part of its territory is classified as an exceptional cultural landscape by UNESCO. You can discover it by driving through the countryside, climbing the hillsides, walking in the plains or along the Vienne river. To taste this wine at its best, push the doors of the dozens of cellars spread over the 26 communes that border the city of Chinon. Note that 40% of the vineyards produce organically and that 75% of the estates are committed to an environmental approach, a trend that is increasing year after year. A quarter of the production is sold in Chinon itself and 10% is exported, half to the United States.
The black truffle of Chinon
The truffle is still grown naturally in the land of Rabelais! If the presence of the natural truffle is attested in several regions of France as early as 1370, its cultivation was initiated in 1790 by Pierre Mauléon, a miller-peasant owning land between Chinon and Loudun. Several documents prove the ancient presence of truffles in the area around Chinon. On August 17, 1620, King Louis XIII, visiting the region, was offered a "snack of currants, truffles and pears". In 1684, the guardian of the castle of La Roche-Clermault signed a contract stipulating that he would harvest truffles and bring them to his owner, the Marquis of Villandry. Pierre Mauléon understood that there was a link between the oak tree and the appearance of the truffle, so he decided to provoke the formation of truffle fields. To do this, he reproduced their natural environment by sowing acorns from truffle-growing trees. A success!
Today, the so-called Rabelaisian truffle flourishes in a territory shared between the departments of Indre-et-Loire and Vienne. The soil of the Chinon area is particularly suitable for the cultivation of this Tuber melanosporum, especially on the Puys du Chinonais. The area has 150 hectares of truffle fields operated by a hundred or so truffle growers. A highlight, Chinon organizes its Truffle Festival in mid-January. An event organized by the Syndicat de la Truffe Rabelaisienne noire with a truffle market, truffle hunting demonstrations with dogs and pigs, culinary animations, sweet and savory tastings, discovery of truffle handicrafts, nurserymen, sponsorship of truffle oaks, and gourmet markets!
The sainte-maure-de-touraine, a goat on straw
This local cheese obtained its AOC well after the wine of Chinon, in 1990. Among the goat cheeses of the Loire Valley, it is the most Chinonian. Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine is a raw goat's milk log with rennet, matured for about ten days. This ashy log is 16 to 18 cm long and has a crust covered with a grey or even bluish down as it ages. You can recognize it by the rye straw that runs through it from one end to the other. Cut it into slices at the widest part and remove the straw to make it easier to cut. This cereal straw, not always rye as in the tradition, is engraved with the name of the appellation and the identification number of the cheese factory! You can be sure of its origin... On a cheese platter or in the kitchen, for example in the recipe for roasted chickpeas and squash with Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine PDO, this cheese makes a good impression. Try the fresh asparagus soup with Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine PDO and basil. A delicious, easy and effective dish! You can find sainte-maure-de-touraine at the cheese farm Le Vazereau in La Roche-Clermault. The bourgueil and Chinon wines are very well suited to it. The tapered pear also goes very well with this tasty and friendly goat cheese. Then, to put a final touch to a Chinon meal, a piece of winegrower's pie is just right...
