Loire Valley
The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is referred to as the ''Cradle of the French'' and the ''Garden of France'' due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards (such as cherries), and artichoke, and asparagus fields, which line the banks of the river. Notable for its historic towns, architecture, and wines, the valley has been inhabited since the Middle Palaeolithic period. In 2000, UNESCO added the central part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites. Geography and climate 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 riv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sully-sur-Loire
Sully-sur-Loire (, literally ''Sully on Loire'') is a commune in the Loiret department, north-central France. It is the seat of the canton of Sully-sur-Loire. It lies on the left bank of the river Loire. Population Castles The ''château'' of Sully-sur-Loire dates from the end of the 14th century and is a prime example of a medieval fortress. It was built at a strategic crossing of the Loire river. The ''château'' was expanded by Maximilien de Béthune, first duke of Sully and prime minister of King Henry IV of France (1560–1641), who is buried on the grounds of his ''château''. The family of the dukes of Sully retained ownership of the ''château'' until the 20th century. King Louis XIV, his mother Queen Anne of Austria and prime minister Cardinal Mazarin sought refuge in the ''château'' of Sully-sur-Loire in March 1652 after they were driven out of Paris during the revolt of the French nobility known as the '' Fronde''. Notable People * Maurice de Sully ( 1105 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the province are called ''Angevins'' or, more rarely, ''Angeriens''. Angers proper covers and has a population of 154,508 inhabitants, while around 432,900 live in its metropolitan area (''aire d'attraction''). The Communauté urbaine Angers Loire Métropole, Angers Loire Métropole is made up of 29 communes covering with 299,500 inhabitants (2018).Comparateur de territoire INSEE Not including the broader metropolitan area, Angers is the third most populous Communes of France, commune in northwes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Loire Valley (wine)
The Loire Valley wine region includes the French wine regions situated along the river Loire from the Muscadet region near the city of Nantes on the Atlantic coast to the region of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé just southeast of the city of Orléans in north central France. In between are the regions of Anjou wine, Saumur, Bourgueil, Chinon, and Vouvray. The Loire Valley itself follows the river through the Loire department to the river's origins in the Cévennes but the majority of the wine production takes place in the regions noted above. The area includes 87 appellations under the ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) and '' Indication Géographique Protégée'' (IGP) systems. While the majority of production in the Loire Valley is white wine from the Chenin blanc, Sauvignon blanc and Melon de Bourgogne grapes, there are red wines made (especially around the Chinon region) from Cabernet franc. In addition to still wines, rosé, sparkling and dessert wines are als ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vineyard In The Loire Valley
A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards are often characterised by their , a French term loosely translating as "a sense of place" that refers to the specific geographical and geological characteristics of grapevine plantations, which may be imparted to the wine itself. History The earliest evidence of wine production dates from between 6000 and 5000 BC. Wine making technology improved considerably with the ancient Greeks but it was not until the end of the Roman Empire that cultivation techniques as we know them were common throughout Europe. In medieval Europe the Catholic Church was a staunch supporter of wine, which was necessary for the celebration of the Mass. During the lengthy instability of the Middle Ages, the monasteries maintained and de ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Duchy Of Anjou
The Duchy of Anjou (; , ; ) was a French province straddling the lower Loire. Its capital was Angers, and its area was roughly co-extensive with the diocese of Angers. Anjou was bordered by Brittany to the west, Maine to the north, Touraine to the east and Poitou to the south. The adjectival form is Angevin, and inhabitants of Anjou are known as Angevins. In 1482, the duchy became part of the Kingdom of France and then remained a province of the Kingdom under the name of the Duchy of Anjou. After the decree dividing France into departments in 1791, the province was disestablished and split into six new ''départements'': Deux-Sèvres, Indre-et-Loire, Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Sarthe, and Vienne. Duchy of Anjou The county of Anjou was united to the royal domain between 1205 and 1246, when it was turned into an apanage for the king's brother, Charles I of Anjou. This second Angevin dynasty, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, established itself on the thrones of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harvest (wine)
The harvesting of wine grapes (vintage) is one of the most crucial steps in the process of wine-making. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the Ripening, ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to produce. The weather can also shape the timetable of harvesting with the threat of heat, rain, hail, and frost which can damage the grapes and bring about various vine diseases. In addition to determining the time of the harvest, winemakers and vineyard owners must also determine whether to use hand pickers or Mechanized agriculture, mechanical harvesters. The harvest season typically falls between August & October in the Northern Hemisphere and February & April in the Southern Hemisphere. With various climate conditions, List of grape varieties, grape varieties, and wine styles the harvesting of grapes could happen in every month of the calendar year somewhere in the w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is similar to the formation of dew, except it occurs below the freezing point of water typically without crossing through a liquid state. Air always contains a certain amount of water vapor, depending on temperature. Warmer air can hold more than colder air. When the atmosphere contains more water than it can hold at a specific temperature, its relative humidity rises above 100% becoming supersaturated, and the excess water vapor is forced to deposit onto any nearby surface, forming seed crystals. The temperature at which frost will form is called the dew point, and depends on the humidity of the air. When the temperature of the air drops below its dew point, excess water vapor is forced out of solution, resulting in a phase change directly fro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Degree (temperature)
The term ''degree'' is used in several scales of temperature, with the notable exception of kelvin, primary unit of temperature for engineering and the physical sciences. The degree symbol ° is usually used, followed by the initial letter of the unit; for example, "°C" for degree Celsius. A degree can be defined as a set change in temperature measured against a given scale; for example, one degree Celsius is one-hundredth of the temperature change between the point at which water starts to change state from solid to liquid state and the point at which it starts to change from its liquid to gaseous state. Scales of temperature measured in degrees Common scales of temperature measured in degrees: * Celsius (°C) * Fahrenheit (°F) * Rankine (°R or °Ra), which uses the Fahrenheit scale, adjusted so that 0 degrees Rankine is equal to absolute zero. Unlike the degree Fahrenheit and degree Celsius, the kelvin is no longer referred to or written as a degree (but was before 1967) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mesoclimate
In viticulture, there are several levels of regional climates that are used to describe the ''terroir'' or immutable characteristics of an area. These levels can be as broad as a macroclimate which includes entire wine regions or as small as a microclimate which includes the unique environment around an individual grapevine. In the middle is the mesoclimate which usually describes the characteristics of a particular vineyard site. Levels *Macroclimate, in viticulture, refers to the regional climate of a broad area such as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) or a French ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC). It can include an area on the scale of tens to hundreds of kilometers. On smaller scales are the related designations of mesoclimate and microclimate.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition, pp. 416, 439, 442. Oxford University Press 2006 . *Mesoclimate refers to the climate of a particular vineyard site and is generally restricted to a space of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tours
Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole functional area (France), metropolitan area was 516,973. Tours sits on the lower reaches of the Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Formerly named Caesarodunum by its founder, Roman Augustus, Emperor Augustus, it possesses one of the largest amphitheaters of the Roman Empire, the Tours Amphitheatre. Known for the Battle of Tours in 732 AD, it is a National Sanctuary with connections to the Merovingian dynasty, Merovingians and the Carolingian dynasty, Carolingians, with the Capetian dynasty, Capetians making the kingdom's currency the Livre tournois. Martin of Tours, Saint Martin and Gregory of Tours were from Tours. Tours was once part of Touraine, a former provi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Saumur
Saumur () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc.. Saumur station has rail connections to Tours, Angers, La Roche-sur-Yon and Nantes. Toponymy First attested in the Medieval Latin form of ''Salmuri'' in 968 AD, the origin of the name is obscure. Albert Dauzat hypothesized a pre-Celtic unattested element ''*sala'' 'marshy ground' (''cf.'' Celtic ''salm'' 'which jumps and flows'), followed by another unattested element meaning "wall". Many places in Europe seem to contain ''*Sal(m)-'' elements, which may share Old European hydronymy, Old European roots. History The Dolmen de Bagneux on the south of the town, is 23 meters long and is built from 15 large slabs of the local stone, weighing over 500 tons. It is the largest in France. The Château de Saumur was cons ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orléans
Orléans (,"Orleans" (US) and ; ) is a city in north-central France, about 120 kilometres (74 miles) southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Loiret and of the Regions of France, region of Centre-Val de Loire. Orléans is located on the river Loire nestled in the heart of the Loire Valley, classified as a Loire Valley, World Heritage Site, where the river curves south towards the Massif Central. In 2020, the city had 117,026 inhabitants within its municipal boundaries. Orléans is the center of Orléans Métropole that has a population of 290,346. The larger Functional area (France), metropolitan area has a population of 454,208, the 20th largest in France. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |