Gift set: AOC Vouvray

According to legend, it all began in 372: Saint Martin and the monks of Marmoutier Abbey, near Tours, planted the first vines in the area, and tradition holds that the saint planted them with his own hands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Dutch merchants took hold of the wine and shipped it as far as London, Paris, and Rotterdam. Rabelais himself made this "pineau" the wine of choice for Gargantua, describing it as a noble white wine with the feel of taffeta. The AOC was recognized in 1936, and by 1937, the winemakers founded the Confrérie des Chevaliers de la Chantepleure to proudly represent it.

The vineyard stretches over approximately 2,000 to 2,300 hectares, on the right bank of the Loire and along the Brenne and Cisse valleys, east of Tours. Its tuffeau subsoil—that soft chalk capped with clay and flint—provides the Chenin with its drainage and tension, and shelters a treasure: cellars carved directly into the rock, the very same used to build the châteaux of the Loire. Their constant coolness worked wonders for sparkling wines made using the traditional method, which were very fashionable in the 18th and 19th centuries. The appellation is also dotted with *clos*, those stone-walled plots with such distinct identities that they are often compared to the *climats* of Burgundy.

It is also an appellation that makes only one choice: Chenin, nothing but Chenin, but in all its variations. Dry, off-dry, semi-sweet, sweet, or sparkling: the style depends on the vintage. Cooler years tend to produce dry and sparkling wines, while more generous years—with the help of noble rot—produce semi-sweet and sweet wines with a longevity measured in decades, sustained by the grape variety's natural acidity.

A single appellation and six different expressions: discover what each winemaker and each *terroir* makes of it in this collection: