Let’s Have A History Lesson

During this height of excess in France (we’re talking right up to the First French Revolution), the Kings and courtiers of the realm built their summer homes, country homes, hunting lodges, and villas in the Loire Valley. This was an escape from the cities (mostly Paris) for a slower pace, hunting, and general visiting and lazing about. The Loire River itself was instrumental in the ease of movement of supplies and people both for the building of the chateaus and habitation.

But even farther back, during the 100 Years’ War between France and England, the French Kings had lost much of their realm and Paris to the English and lived in the valley ruling what was left of France. This was around the time the first stone medieval fortresses were constructed in the valley. Once the Kings were able to return to Paris to rule, their valley fortresses were transformed into lavish country escapes.

Many of these chateaux were ransacked during the French Revolution when the working class rose up and threw out the monarchy and ruling merchant classes. Today many of the chateaux have been restored and if they are still owned by an aristocratic family, they receive financial assistance for upkeep from the government as long as they open them to the public. And so, we have an overwhelming number of chateaux to choose from today when visiting the Loire Valley.

Some last fun facts – the Loire Valley was the dividing line between Nazi Germany and the Vichy Government of France during World War II AND it was as far north as the invading African Moors got before they were pushed back into Spain. So you won’t see much of the Moorish architectural influence past this valley and the Nazis didn’t destroy the chateaux in the war. This area’s historical influence is immense and it has largely been preserved. Ok, I’m taking off my history nerd hat now (Jason says: I didn’t know it came off!). Let’s talk travel!

Time to Choose a Chateau

It is absolutely overwhelming trying to choose a historic chateau to visit when you’re in the Loire Valley of France. Do you pick the biggest? Obviously. The smallest? The closest? A cluster of them? (Jason says: what do you call a cluster of chateaux?) Gah – decisions! In the end, we picked one of the closest that had something I love – gardens. Did we know anything else about this place? Not a thing.

We only had to drive about 20 minutes from our chateau hotel (another chateau!), Domaine de la Tortiniere, to the village of Villandry, which just happens to also be the name of the chateau there. This estate covers 15 hectares (about 37 acres), 7 of which are gardens. It is surrounded by cute shops, churches, stone buildings, and fields that make up the support that keeps the estate running.

More History

History hat back on (Jason says: ugh). The chateau itself was originally a Medieval Fortress. Its significance? Henry II of England signed the Peace of Colombiers here (Colombiers being the original name of the fortress), admitting his defeat in 1189 to the French King, Philippe Auguste. This was BEFORE the 100 Years’ War, so this fortress was already established when the French Kings were later forced out of Paris and into the Loire Valley. AKA – It’s OLD. (Jason says: pshaw, she’s still in her prime).

The fortress was razed to the ground in 1532 during the Renaissance and rebuilt on its foundations as a chateau. This is when the extensive gardens were added along with the façade that you see today. The entire estate continued to grow and change until the 18^th century. In the 19^th century, it had a number of owners, including Jerome Bonaparte, the younger brother of Napoleon. Does this make it an Imperial Chateau? Not sure.

All these owners gradually made the chateau more modern and “English” looking. In the 20^th century (1906 for those keeping track), husband and wife scientists from Spain and America purchased the chateau and began restoring it to its original Renaissance style. The gardens were redesigned, taking them back to 16th-century French style, which is what we see today. The current owner is their great-grandson.

So How Was the Chateau?

Whew, history hat off. So after all of that, we thought the chateau was interesting but not particularly overwhelming. My favorite part was going up the skinny medieval spiral staircase in the keep and out onto the roof where you could look out over the entire estate.

There were lots of bedrooms, but it didn’t seem like there were a ton of living spaces and social areas on the ground floor. That seemed odd to me. Maybe they just didn’t allow us to see more. We weren’t supposed to take photos, so I don’t really have much to show you. Bummer. I did snap some of the views from some of the bedrooms though! Not a bad thing to wake up to.

Once we had stuck our heads in all the available rooms, we headed for the garden. Unfortunately, we chose the hottest day of our trip to visit, so we spent most of the time in the gardens jumping between shady areas. The gardens are beautiful, peaceful, and extensive! I can’t believe how many types there are – ornamental gardens, a forest, greenhouses, a water garden, a sun garden, a maze, an herb garden, and an ornamental kitchen garden just to name a few! The grapes were ready to be picked and I marveled multiple times over the 1015 lime trees that all looked EXACTLY alike. Fantastic pruning job.

For me, the coolest part of these gardens (beyond the fact that they just look amazing) was that they are completely maintained by only 10 gardeners, and no chemicals are used. They dig and hoe everything by hand and I didn’t see a single weed. Amazing! Due to these practices, biodiversity has flourished and the gardens have been certified as a refuge by the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO).

Once we were thoroughly sweating from our lengthy walk in the gardens, we checked out the garden shop and the gift shop before heading back out the gates to grab a sandwich from the café outside for a late lunch. It was time to mull over the whole experience. In all, we were there maybe three hours.

How about you? How will you choose which chateau(x) to visit in the Loire Valley? The possibilities are endless! We could have spent an entire month here and barely made a dent jumping through all the chateaux. We can’t wait to hear what you choose!

The post Why are There so Many Chateaux in the Loire Valley? first appeared on The DeBode Way.

One of the reasons we like getting out of the city is it lets us find smaller, local companies that give us a completely different experience and perspective on things, even things we *thought* we already knew. Case in point: our new friends at the Château de Minière winery in the Loire Valley of France.

All Day and Nothing to Do

If you’ve been reading along about our most recent adventure throughout France, you’ll know one of the areas we visited was Tours, a few hours almost directly south of Paris in the Loire Valley (you can read about our incredible hotel in Tours here). We had a few days in Tours with not much planned and, as we were in France, it seemed appropriate to find a winery to visit and…do…winery things. Naturally, I picked up my phone and headed to Google for a quick search. Turns out we were close to a few wineries, and by ‘a few’ I mean a ton. Gosh, how to pick?

The Hidden Gem

As I scrolled through the results looking for something unique, I stumbled across Château de Minière. What initially seemed to be just another winery quickly became something super interesting and, eventually, a really neat wine experience.

In looking over their website (and TripAdvisor reviews, obviously), we learned the Château wasn’t far from where we were staying, only about a 30-minute drive through the rolling French countryside of the Loire Valley. There’s worse ways to spend a half hour, right? As the name of the vineyard suggests, the property boasts an impressive château that was built back in the 15^th century. What was once a family home on a fortified farm (yes, evidently that’s a thing when you take your wine as seriously as the French) is now available as an Air BnB. How cool is that? Seriously, go look at the pictures.

Buildings aside, we also learned the vineyard has been women-owned for the better part of two centuries, that the vineyard is certified organic, and it’s making impressive strides in the field of biodynamics. Not sure what that means? Yeah, me either, but was curious to learn more. Oh, and did I mention there was wine? Need we say more? Obviously, they had our interest, so off to the car we went.

A Neat Learning Experience

After arriving at the winery, we were a little concerned: there was only one other car in the parking lot. In fairness, it’s a very small operation, with an even smaller parking lot, so maybe it wasn’t fair to expect it to be full. It also might have been a little early for a wine tasting – stop judging, we were on vacation and about to have a learning experience. And remember: grapes are a fruit, just like strawberries, which are appropriate for breakfast, right? Right. In any case, bolstered by the confidence from our last wine experience in Champagne, we pulled in and headed for the main building.

Over the next few hours, we learned that it’s fairly uncommon for a winery to be totally women-owned. It’s also not common for wineries in this part of the world to be organic. What makes it complicated is that what one winery does impacts the wineries around it. So, one winery can go through the effort of using organic methods, but if their neighbor to the North is spraying pesticides all day… All that’s to say, being able to get their organic certification was a really big deal for them (and, of course, the environment).

We also learned about a process they call biodynamics. In a nutshell, this means letting nature do most of the hard work to grow their grapes. For example, they grow grass between the rows of vines, which is in stark contrast to the carefully-manicured lanes we saw at every other winery. They had also recently started keeping bees to ensure proper pollination of their grape vines. Our host also told us about the use of more traditional farming methods that encourage more wildlife and insects on the property. You know, letting nature do what it does best. Very neat.

This isn’t to suggest their method of farming is easy. Quite the opposite, in fact. They’re still at the mercy of the climate and environment. And, because they aren’t spraying pesticides, that does mean they lose some of their crop to disease and pests. However, the wine they produce is really good, and because it’s more environmentally friendly, we felt better about drinking it. Or maybe that was the effect of the wine… Either way, it was good all-around.

The Wine

That’s all fine and well, but what about the wine? We’re happy to say that all this time, expense, and work translates into some pretty amazing wines. Before our tour, we tasted somewhere around eight of the Château’s wines and all were very good. The whites were crisp and fruity, but not overly sweet. The reds were deep, juicy, and velvety. We even tasted a wine that had been aged 40 years (!) that was rich, smooth, and sweet. Very different from most of the wines we’ve tasted. Obviously we brought some home AND we figured out we can order a few of their wines online. Loire Valley to Missouri! #winning

Along the way our host did what hosts always do: explained what was in each wine, how long it had aged, what we should be tasting, and so on. But what was new for us was, after talking about each wine, she’d turn around and point – yes, literally point – to the group of vines that produced the grapes (most were the ubiquitous Cabernet-Franc varietal) that went into the wine we were drinking. So cool!  And all this for €15 per person, about $16 for our US friends.

Go Explore!

In the end, we had a great time learning new things, supporting a small local business, and, yes, drinking some tasty wines. So remember: the next time you go out for an adventure, see if you can find the unknown, or at least the lesser-known. Odds are you’ll be glad you did, you’ll help support a small business which is always a good choice, and you might even learn something new to share with your friends and family. Even if none of that happens, you still might get to enjoy a glass of wine with some new friends, which is still pretty cool.

The post An Exceptional Effort in the Loire Valley – Château de Minière first appeared on The DeBode Way.