Loire Valley (wine) weather sometimes requiring that the must be heated in order to complete fermentation fully. The Loire Valley is often divided into three sections. The Upper Loire includes the Sauvignon blanc dominated areas of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. The Middle Loire is dominated by more Chenin blanc and Cabernet franc wines found in the regions around Touraine, Saumur, Chinon and Vouvray. The Lower Loire that leads to the mouth of the river's entrance to the Atlantic goes through the Muscadet region which is dominated by wines of the Melon de Bourgogne grape. Spread out across the Loire Valley are 87 appellation under
Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; meaning "Loire Countries") is one of the 18 regions of France. It is one of the regions created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of so-called "balancing metropolises" ("métropoles d'équilibre")¹. Pays de la Loire comprises 5 departments: Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, Vendée. Pays de la Loire is made up of the following historical provinces: Thus the name of the region, chosen by the French central government, was not based on history, but purely on geographical references: "Pays" ("lands") "de