Loire Valley (wine) more pronounced mineral notes. The Cabernet franc based wines are also lighter in color with more vegetal or "weed"-like aromas. In riper vintages, a Loire Cabernet franc will develop aromas of raspberries and lead pencil shavings. The Loire Valley has a high density of vine plantings with an average of 1,600-2,000 vines per acre (4,000-5,000 per hectare). Some Sancerre vineyards have as many as 10,000 plants per hectare. With more vines competing for the same limited resources in the soil, the density is designed to compensate for the excessive yields that some of the grape varieties, like Chenin blanc, are
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