Loire Valley (wine) by the Bretons of the area's wine stocks. By the 11th century the wines of Sancerre had a reputation across Europe for their high quality. In the High Middle Ages, the wines of the Loire Valley were the most esteemed wines in England and France, even more prized than those from Bordeaux. The Loire river has a significant effect on the mesoclimate of the region, adding the necessary extra few degrees of temperature that allows grapes to grow when the areas to the north and south of the Loire Valley have shown to be unfavorable to viticulture. In addition to
Centre-Val de Loire Centre-Val de Loire Centre-Val de Loire (, "Centre-Loire Valley") is one of the 13 administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley in the interior of the country. The administrative capital is Orléans. Like many contemporary regions of France, the region of Centre was created from parts of three historical provinces: , , and . The name was chosen by the French government purely on the basis of geography, in reference to its location in north-central France (the central part of the original French language area), However, Centre is not situated in the geographical centre of France, and