The Wine and Food Guide to the Loire, France's Royal River: Veuve Clicquot-Wine Book of the Year [Paperback]

Jacqueline Friedrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1998

Veuve Clicquot-Wine Book of the Year
Winner of the Julia Child Award
Winner of the James Beard Award

Here, finally, is the first comprehensive guide to the five wine regions of the Loire. It is written with passion, understanding, and authority. Friedrich explores the Loire's sixty-odd appellations, explaining each one's history, soils, climate, and vintners. The author rates over six hundred wineries, giving tasting notes and lively sketches of the individual producers. Friedrich describes the food traditions of each of the five regions--the Nantais, Anjou and Saumur, Touraine, the Sancerrois, and the Auverngne, introducing fishermen, charcutiers, cheesemakers, and farmers. There are maps, a glossary, and wine itineraries for travelers. It will remain a classic well into the twenty-first century.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Creating a fine wine is not so unlike creating a fine guide to wine. They both take craft and inspiration, patience and a passion for quality. Jacqueline Friedrich possesses those attributes in spades, and with them, she's put together the definitive guide to the Loire, its wines and cuisine, filling a niche that's been empty a long time. As one would savor a fine wine, Friedrich takes her time, dwelling here on the local foods of Anjou, there on the Muscadets of Sèvre-et-Maine. Her encyclopedic guide takes on the 60 or so appellations in the five wine regions of the Loire, describing the history, soil, and vintners of each, and rating more than 600 wineries. With sections on local cheeses, sausages, and fish dishes, Friedrich's scholarly approach and delightful prose makes this an inspiring read and a necessary guide. --Stephanie Gold

From Library Journal

Friedrich, a former lawyer who now lives in Touraine and who has been writing about wine and food for ten years, has done a masterful job of taking one region of France?the Loire?and delving deeply into its geography, food and wine history, climate, soil, grape varieties, winemakers, and chateaux. She devotes a chapter to every subregion?the Nantais, Anjou and Saumur, Touraine, the Sancerrois, and the Auvergne. Within each, she offers analysis of the wines and ratings of various producers and vintages. The appendixes include tips to maximize your dining, drinking, and sightseeing pleasure in the Loire. At the end are a short glossary, a temperature guide for serving Loire wines, and conversion tables. With its scholarship and breadth, this book could double as the perfect guide for a winemaster's tour. Recommended particularly for large wine collections.?Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., Ky.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (March 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080505782X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805057829
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Travel > Europe > France > Loire
  • #47 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Drinks & Beverages > Wine > Food & Wine

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loire Valley Wine, July 24, 2000

By 

T. Youngs (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wine and Food Guide to the Loire, France's Royal River: Veuve Clicquot-Wine Book of the Year (Paperback)

This book was very helpful in our tour of the Loire Valley. We used it to visit wineries in both Chinon and Vouvray. As there are quite a few places to visit, Ms. Friedrich's commentary about each vignoble and her rating system were very useful.

One place in particular we did visit was SCEA Charles Joguet in the Chinon region. We mentioned the nice write-up he received in this book, and he said that he had the book and that Ms. Friedrich only lived right around the corner, this story really brought the book and the region to life for me. His facility includes a cave towards the back of the property where we tasted several wines and purchased some as well. As a professional, he took the name and address of the English friend, who resides in France, with whom we were visiting, in order to add her to his mailing list. He then told me how to purchase his wines in Pennsylvania.

Without Ms. Friedrich's book we would never have gone to this property as it is off the beaten path, but well worth the visit.

If you're headed to the Loire and want to do more than the usual tourist visiting of the chateaux then this book is indispensable.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensible Guide for a Trip of a Lifetime!, November 30, 2001

By 

James Ellsworth (Caldwell, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wine and Food Guide to the Loire, France's Royal River: Veuve Clicquot-Wine Book of the Year (Paperback)

Do you long to travel deeper into "la France profonde" than even the best package tour? Do you like exceptional wines but realize you will never have seen many of the best ones on a winelist in the U. S.? Where are those great small restaurants and country inns that don't make it into the Michelin guide? Which are the typical (and best) cheeses of the region? Where are the best places to buy local breads and specialty baked items? Jacqueline Friedrich's 1998 Wine and Food Guide to the Loire is truly enlightening on these points.

We used her book to develop our own 14 day tour of the Loire Valley and, thanks to many of her tips, it was "a trip of a lifetime". Buy and read this book; take notes; rent a car...! With this level of authentic local information, you can make magic.

We culled what appealed to us from the book and every single thing we used was "spot on" and special. As examples, we stayed at the Domaine de Mestre, an elegant farm house run by the local mayor (his wife is one of the best artisinal soap makers in France) and we felt like we knew them a bit before we arrived thanks to this book. We visited the Troglo'tap in Turquant, where dried apples are still made using time-honored hand techniques in an ancient tufa cave workshop. We never would have found places like these without the book. Without the author's honest but evocative descriptions, we would not have had the faith to look for and enjoy these or many other places we visited.

The wine information is copious and detailed: a reader can, purely by reading the text, select wines that accord with ones own preferences. Armed with notes from this book, you can find the wines you would not want to pass over on a winelist just because there were so many names and who knew which ones to pick out?

In short, this book is a tool for travel. It is beautifully written but it is not a memoir. Select the places and details that interest you. Because of the small size of the localities where some of the best things are located, it was not practical to include a map with the book. Get a specialized one for the Loire Valley and use it as a companion to the text. This book is a classic of travel reference.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for any culinary visit to the Loire, April 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wine and Food Guide to the Loire, France's Royal River: Veuve Clicquot-Wine Book of the Year (Paperback)

I had the book along with us the weekend I proposed to my fiance, and it was absolutely phenomenal. Great background on both food and wines that are local to the area, along with plenty of suggestions for itineraries for wine tours. My only complaint is that she should have included a few more phones and addresses for some of the restaurants and vineyards she recommends, since it can be hard to find some of her marquis suggestions. Excellent book overall with a clear passion for her subject matter!