Loire Valley In 2000, UNESCO added the central part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites. The valley includes historic towns such as Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Montsoreau, Orléans, Saumur, and Tours. The climate is favorable most of the year, the river often acting as a line of demarcation in France's weather between the northern climate and the southern. The river has a significant effect on the mesoclimate of the region, adding a few degrees of temperature. The climate can be cool with springtime frost while wine harvest months may have rain. Summers are hot; however, influences
Tuffeau stone Tuffeau stone Tuffeau stone — in French, simply tuffeau or tufeau — is a local limestone of the Loire Valley of France. It is characterized as a chalky or sandy, fine-grained limestone, white to yellowish-cream in appearance, and micaceous (containing some white flakes of mica, or muscovite). The soft stone is extracted from numerous quarries and has made a major mark on the architectural landscape of the Loire and its tributaries — especially the valley's world-famous chateaux. Tuffeau dates to the Mesozoic era (Upper Cretaceous Turonian stage). The Loire Valley formed the floor of a vast sea 90 million years