Loire Valley (wine) time in Angers (Anjou): With over planted under vine, the Loire Valley is about two-thirds the size of the Bordeaux wine region. Due to its location and marginal climate, the overall quality of a vintage has a dramatic effect on the quality of the region's wines—more so than with other French wine regions. The most common hazard is that the cool climate will prevent the grapes from ripening fully and developing the sugars needed to balance the naturally high acidity of the grapes. During these cool vintages the Sauvignon blanc based wines are lighter in color, less fruity and have
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