The wines to the eastern end of the Loire Valley include Sancerre, Pouilly sur loire and Pouilly fume, Menetou Salon, Quincy, Reuilly Chateaumeillant and Coteaux du Geinois, all producing stable decent wines varying across the reds, whites and roses.
Sancerre is probably the most widely known of the wines of this end of the Loire Valley. The wine is named after the town of Sancerre which sits to the side of the Loire up the top of a hill. From Sancerre you can find the most splendid views of the surrounding countryside, the villages where the grapes are grown and where the wine producers live.
Pouilly sur Loire is a few kilometres further south-west and sits on the other side of the Loire in the department of Nievres. It has a smaller wine production than Sancerre and the wine is often a touch sweeter and fuller in flavor.
Menetou Salon is a pretty town just north-west of Bourges, it has a spendid chateau which houses a vintage car museum and the town is surrounded by the vineyards. It has a small production each year which is not often exported and it a good year the wine houses often sell out of bottles.
Quincy an Reuilly are further west of Bourges, Chateaumeillant is south of Bourges and Coteaux d Geinnois is just north of Pouilly sur Loire and Sancerre.
The department of Cher has five appellation wine areas, Sancerre, Menetou Salon, Quincy, Reilly and Chateaumeillant. As Cher is a small and little known department it is more widely known in tourist terms as the Loire Valley for the Sancerre area and then the southern part as the Berry region. Some tourist maps also have the east side of Cher in the Bourgogne region.
All of these wines are usually matched with meat and fish dishes with delicious cream or wine sauce, and of course, all of local produce in the Cher department. As always in France, traditional local dishes feature heavily on menus in the restaurants.
