Vouvray (wine) towards drier styles of wine including sparkling Vouvray. More warmer climate years promote the production of sweeter, dessert style wines. The northern location and relatively cooler climate combines to make harvest in Vouvray one of the last to completed in France, often lasting into November. Vineyards are usually planted on the plateau above the river bank in soils composed of gravel and clay on top of tuffeau. Chenin blanc is the dominant and nearly exclusive grape of Vouvray. While the obscure minor grape Arbois is permitted in the Vouvray AOC, it is rarely seen. With more than 5,000 acres (2,000
Loire Nevers, La Charité-sur-Loire, Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, Cher: Sancerre, Loiret: Briare, Gien, Orléans, Loir-et-Cher: Blois, Indre-et-Loire: Amboise, Tours, Maine-et-Loire: Montsoreau, Saumur, Loire-Atlantique: Ancenis, Nantes, Saint-Nazaire. The Loire Valley in the Loire river basin, is a stretch in the western reach of the river starting with Orléans and terminating at Nantes, short of the Loire estuary and the Atlantic Ocean. The tidal stretch of the river extends to a length of and a width of , which has oil refineries, the port of Saint-Nazaire and of wetland whose formation is dated to 7500 BC (caused by inundation by sea waters on the northern bank