Vouvray (wine) ginger, fig, apples and white flowers. Vouvrays are often paired with rich, hearty dishes and flavorful sauces. As Vouvray can be made in a wide range of sweetness styles, the wine labels may indicate the sweetness level by the terms "Sec", "Demi-Sec", "Moelleux" and "Doux". While these terms are not strictly defined, they tend to roughly fall into the guidelines below. Note that the residual sugar level may not equate to the level of sweetness that a taster will perceive in the wine due to balance of acidity in the wine. In some cases a producer's "Demi-Sec" wine may taste
Châteaux of the Loire Valley place where most of the French royalty preferred to spend the bulk of their time. King Louis XIV in the middle of the 17th century made Paris the permanent locale for great royal châteaux when he built the Palace of Versailles. Nonetheless, those who gained the king's favour and the wealthy bourgeoisie continued to renovate existing châteaux or build lavish new ones in the Loire as summer residences. The French Revolution saw a number of the great châteaux destroyed and many ransacked, their treasures stolen. The overnight impoverishment of many of the deposed nobility, usually after one of its members