Coteaux du Giennois

Map showing the Berry wine-growing regions . The Coteaux du Giennois area is located in the northern area and is the closest to the city of Orléans.

The Coteaux du Giennois wine-growing region is widely spread between the communes of Gien and Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire . The majority of the vineyards are on the orographic right bank of the Loire in central France. The wine-growing region belongs to the large Loire wine-growing region and is only about 10 km north of the Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé and Pouilly-sur-Loire appellations .

history

Gregory of Tours mentions viticulture in the region in his Historia Francorum. There are indications that the monks of Fleury Abbey were instrumental in promoting viticulture from the 7th century onwards. The wine region, which was important in the early modern period , had more than 30,000 hectares of vineyards in the 17th century. Between Châteauneuf-sur-Loire in the east and Beaugency in the west, viticulture was practically monoculture .

Various reasons were responsible for this development. In 1577, the Parlement of Paris decreed that the residents of Paris could only buy wine made at least 90 km from the capital. There was a paved road between the Orléanais and Paris, which corresponded to the routing of today's Route nationale 20 . Furthermore, the Canal de Briare was opened to goods traffic in 1642 and made transport between Paris and the Loire much easier. The greatly increased sales of wine from the region around Orléans led to a decline in quality. The wines of the Loire were also consumed in the French royal family. In 1608, the doctor Joseph Duchesne wrote in his work "Pourtraict de la santé" that King Henry IV should be served wines from Coucy or Ay . This recommendation ushered in a slowly onset crisis.

With the construction of the railway connection to Paris in 1853, the region began to distribute its industry to other areas. When the vines were attacked by phylloxera , viticulture almost came to a standstill.

In 1946 a designation of origin "Vins des Auvernats et Sauvignon de l'Orléanais et du Giennois" was established. A few years later this bulky name was changed to Vins de l'Orléanais and classified as VDQS . This area later became part of the Orléans , Orléans Cléry and Coteaux du Giennois wine-growing regions . The Coteaux du Giennois was classified as an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC for short) on May 15, 1998 . Before that, the area was called Côtes de Gien or Vins des Coteaux du Giennois .

Wine

The vineyards are cultivated by 41 winemakers, 40 of which work for the only cooperative in the area and currently cover 182 hectares of vineyards in 16 communities. A total of 765 hectares of vineyards have been approved, so that extensive planting is still possible. The areas are located at a height of 170 to 200 m above sea level. NN . Within the wine-growing area there is the sub-region Coteaux du Giennois Cosne-Sur-Loire with 8 municipalities.

The dry red wines are a blend of the grape varieties Gamay and Pinot Noir grapes. The proportion of each variety must not exceed 80%. The harvest restriction is 55 hectoliters / hectare. The minimum alcohol content is 10 percent by volume and may not exceed 12.5% in the case of chaptalization . The ruby ​​red, fruity wines should be drunk within 2 to 4 years after harvest. The drinking temperature should be 15–16 ° C.

The rosé wines are also developed as a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir and are predominantly made dry. Their ideal drinking temperature is 8–10 ° C.

The dry white wines , which now account for 40% of production, be segregated from the grape variety Sauvignon Blanc grapes. The wines should be drunk within 2 to 3 years after harvest. The drinking temperature should be 8–10 ° C.

Approved municipalities

Authorized communes in the wine-growing region are Beaulieu , Bonny-sur-Loire , Gien , Briare , Ousson , Thou , Alligny-Cosne , La-Celle-sur-Loire , Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire , Myennes , Neuvy-sur-Loire , Pougny , Saint-Loup and Saint-Père .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Roger Dion: Histoire de la Vigne et du Vin en France . 1st edition. CNRS Editions, 2010, ISBN 978-2-271-06952-8 , pp. 253-256 .

literature

• Pierre Galet : Cépages et Vignobles de France . Lavoisier Publishing House, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7430-0585-8 .
• Benoît France: Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France . Éditions SOLAR publishing house, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-263-03242-8 .