Exploring The World's Top Ten Wine Making Regions

Part 1 Of 9: Loire Valley To Tuscany

By Aaron Smith
25 January 2008

I’m not a wine snob, really I’m not. But I wish I were. Ah, to know the difference between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, to use words like “jammy” and “legs” to describe wine (without giggling). But I just can’t do it. It’s just so stupid. I mean, if you are eating a good steak and can taste some onion, pepper, and mushroom flavors, you don’t go and describe them individually do you? You just say “damn, this is good steak!” Please, wine snobs, get over yourselves. It’s just sour grape juice. Mind you, this bitterness comes from my apparent complete lack of a palette. This is an attempt to appreciate the world of wine from a different angle. An angle I can actually identify with. I’d like to visit the places where the world’s best wine is made (virtually of course), and do a bit of research about each one. This should give me the flavor of each region so when I crack open a bottle of wine from the Southwest of Sancerre, I’ll know that its flavor is unique in part because of the chalky soil in which the grapes grow. I won’t actually be able to taste the uniqueness, but it should make me sound smart.

I’m going to limit myself to the world’s top ten winemaking regions. Usually, I use a random flight generation site such as http://www.fsflightgenerator.com, or a virtual airline, so this is a nice change of pace for me. Each of these places is particularly notable in the wine world for whatever reason. We’ll be visiting France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Argentina, Canada, the U.S., and Australia. We’ll start in France.

Say what you will about the French, they make great wine. The Loire Valley is one of the most beautiful areas in the world, assuming you are into old castles and rolling green hills and such. Think “Windows XP default background.”  Actually, don’t think that… that picture was taken in California. Instead, think Tours Val de Loire airport (LFOT). It’s located just north of the city of Tours.

Tours has a population of 142,000 (297,631 in the metro area). This puts it in the same ballpark as Kansas City (U.S.), Salzburg (Austria), and Balurghat (India). It’s known for the Battle of Tours (732), which is widely considered to have stopped the spread of Islam in Europe. Tours is also known for the Tours-Paris bicycle race, the Tours Cathedral, and there is even a tree in the town center planted by Napoleon.

The Tours Cathedral

This remarkable building has a tumultuous history. Originally built to replace the castri sancti Martini, the original was finished in the year 1014. Various bits have been destroyed by various means and for various reasons over the years. The only buildings that stand today are the Charlemagne Tower, and the Clock Tower.

The airport was first used as a military base in WWI. Winston Churchill once landed there. It was destroyed by the Germans and by the British, and then rebuilt. It has been used for military purposes since the sixties, and is now frequented by general aviation airplanes, as well as a variety of small carriers. Large carriers are not allowed to use the airport nowadays due to security concerns.

Tours Val de Loire airport

The Terroir

Wine snobs call the place in which grapes destined to become wine are grown “terroir.” The term encompasses not only the place, but everything that goes in to the vine such as the amount of sun and rain, the soil type, air temperature, rat feces, etc. The terroir of the Loire Valley varies greatly, producing wine (from a small set of grape types) of supposedly equally great variety. The area immediately around Tours includes the AOC’s (terroir types) of Vouvray, Montlouis-sur-Loire and Touraine Noble-Joue.

Vouvray

The Vouvray AOC encompasses about 2,000 hectares located northeast of Tours. For those literary types among us, the famous author Balzac used Vouvray as a setting in his novel, L’Illustre Gaudissart. A statue of the main character in the novel has been erected in one of the center squares of Vouvray. Pretty interesting huh? No? Well don’t worry we’ll come to the flying part pretty soon.  The vineyards grow on stony limestone substrate hillsides (white Turonian chalk), interspersed with confluent valleys and covered with “perruche” (flint mixed with clay, which gives mineral character) and “aubuis” (chalk mixed with clay, which gives very sweet wines their power). The climate is unique. The ground warms up quickly under the influence of oceanic winds. Sunshine lasting well into the autumn months helps the grapes to over-ripen. The production of tender (off-dry), sweet or very sweet wines depends on varying weather conditions and the vintage (year) effect is therefore a decisive factor. Great dry Vouvray wines are made every year. The only grape type used in this area is Chenin Blanc (that’s “white” – thanks high school French class).

Montlouis-sur-Loire

Montlouis-sur-Loire is east of Tours, and on the other side of the Loire river from Vouvray. It’s also much smaller, only 350 hectares. The soil is made up of clays overlaid with sand blown there from the Loire and Cher rivers, and with coarse pieces of flint and chalk. Limestone (Turonian chalk) is always within the reach of the roots. Montlouis-sur-Loire enjoys particularly mild weather conditions, and Chenin Blanc is also the only grape used.

Touraine Noble-Joue

Touraine Noble-Joue is located south of Tours, and it is smaller still at 24 hectares. The Noble-Joué is made of a blend of three Pinot grapes. The Pinot Meunier, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir.

Château Moncontour in Tours

Had enough? I thought so. Let’s move on to the flight.

The Flight

Our 516 nm flight today will require us to navigate from Tours, France to Pisa, Italy. (Google Earth kml) We’ll be flying an ATR-72. I chose the ATR-72 because ATR is a French aircraft manufacturer, and the ATR-72 is a widely used and cool airplane. We’ve got a full load of oenophiles from all over the world, including a hottie in seat 4B on which the copilot has his eye.  Here’s the vital statistics on the flight:

 

Origin	LFOT
Destination	LIRP
Aircraft	ATR-72
Distance	516 nm
Estimated Fuel Requirement	1228 lbs (634 lbs + 594 lbs reserve)
Estimated Time Enroute	2h 4m
Route	SOPIL - BALAN - BEBIX - ADAKO - VALKU - ADEKA - TIS - BELEP - MADOT - MEBAK - RUSIT - GIPNO - BALSI - ROBEX - BLONA - TOSMI - TOP32 - KUMIN - KODOK - TOP - TESTO - GEN - KALMO
Passengers	74
Load	16,610 lbs
Gross Weight	45,160 lbs
Origin METAR	METAR LFOT 102100Z 24009KT 9999 BKN023 09/06 Q1026 NOSIG
Destination METAR	METAR LIRP 102215Z 11001KT 9999 FEW030 08/04 Q1015 NOSIG

The weather in Tours looks good today, calling for a temperature of 48 °F (9 °C), wind from the West at 9 knots, and a broken cloud layer at 2300 feet. Pisa weather is looking even better, with a temperature of 46 °F (8 °C), almost no wind, and a few clouds at 3000 feet.

Sitting on the South Ramp

Loaded with engines running

OK, passengers and cargo loaded, doors closed, paperwork complete – it’s time to whip out the >charts and checklists, and go flying. Here is the Pre-Start checklist for the ATR 72:

1. Parking Brakes SET
2. Battery Switch OFF
3. Generator Switches OFF
4. Power Management Switch CHECK SET TO (take off)
5. Automatic Torque Switches CHECK OFF
6. Throttle IDLE
7. Landing Gear Lever CHECK DOWN
8. Propeller HIGH RPM
9. Fuel Cond. Lever FUEL CUTOFF
10. Idle Gate Lever GROUND IDLE
11. Flaps UP
12. Battery Switch ON
13. Panel Lights ON if required
14. Fuel Quantity CHECK
15. Flight controls CHECK
16. Avionics Master Switch ON
17. Check Weather (ATIS, Flight Services)
18. Anti-ice TEST/CHECK
19. Request Clearance
20. Transponder STANDBY
21. Beacon ON

I just love checklists, don’t you? The Pre-Start, Startup checklist, and Before Taxi checklist are now completed and we are now free to start taxiing.

Taxiing to runway 20

Lined up, Before Takeoff checklist complete. Cleared for takeoff. 7:25 AM.

The ATR-72 accelerates well under this modest load and cool weather. We accelerated to 110 kts in about 15 seconds, then pitched up and then pulled the nose up to a 10° angle of attack. The airplane began climbing. I touched the brakes and commanded “gear up.” The copilot responded with a yank to the gear handle, and the gear rumbled into place.

Passing over the Loire River, Touraine Noble-Joue below

After setting climb power, retracting the flaps, and adjusting our heading to the first waypoint (SOPIL), our work was done for the moment. Now, there is nothing to do but talk with ATC and be carried into the sky. They say the most important thing to know about flying is what to do next. In other words, stay ahead of the airplane. So I mentally went over the next steps: turn right to heading 185° at SOPIL for BALAN, set altimeter to 29.92” at FL180, and adjust power at cruise altitude. That’s it.

South of Tours, Indre river below, Loire river in the background

Climbing to FL 215

Turning toward BALAN. 7:33 AM, 13459 ft.

Now in cruise flight over Limoges, making a sharp left turn toward BEBIX.

French Alps just ahead

We’ve now passed over the French-Italian border, and are 12 nm North of Bra, Italy.

Time to begin our descent and plan our approach. 9:00 AM.

Lined up on runway 4L at LIRP

Taxiing to the gate at the Pisa airport

Points of Interest

One thing I enjoy doing is making notes of the interesting places and things over which we are passing. Here are a few of them for this flight:

France

• Our route passed over a town with the unusual name of “Alleyrat.”
• The city named “Chard,” is where Swiss chard comes from. It is so named to differentiate it from “regular” chard. The French called it “Swiss” because it resembles Swiss cheese.
• Lyon is famous for its restaurants, and contribution to the world of cooking in general.
• We passed over Chambery, at the foot of the Alps. Chambery is a huge city known for its historical importance as the capitol of Savoy.
• The Tour de France passes through Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
• The last French town we pass over is Valmeinier, widely known as a skier’s paradise.

Italy

• Bardonecchia, in the Italian Alps, is also known as a skier’s paradise.
• The city of Asti has a long and interesting history. Of course, this city is also famous for Asti Spumante.
• Genoa is another ancient Italian city known for its architecture, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, and as the root word for the word “jeans.” You sure wouldn’t learn that from Andrew Herd would you?
• Rapallo used to be  a popular target for pirates, and is the home of the church of St. Francis of Assisi.
• Portofino is one of the world’s most beautiful resort areas.

And here we are! Italy at last. Time to go check out the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the pizza, and of course, the wine. I hope you enjoyed reading about this trip as much as I enjoyed drinking it. Our next trip will be to Oporto, Portugal, home of, well, Port! Cheers!

Aaron Smith
aaron0051@hotmail.com