Caves de Chinon

Chinon is a wine town as well as a royal one, and its caves are the place to see how the two go together. The town stands on the Vienne, at the foot of a long ridge of pale limestone called tuffeau, and over the centuries quarrymen cut stone from the hillside to build the castles and houses of the Loire valley. The quarries left behind a network of galleries and chambers, which people used for storage, shelter and, above all, for wine. The caves keep a steady, cool temperature all year round, and a high humidity, and are ideal for ageing wine. Many of the cellars in Chinon are cut into the cliff directly beneath the old town and the fortress.

The wine of Chinon has an old and respected name. The appellation covers vineyards on both banks of the Vienne and its tributaries, and the wines are mainly red, made from Cabernet Franc, which is known in the Loire valley as Breton. Chinon reds can be fresh and fruity, with notes of raspberry and pepper when young, and more structured and complex when aged, and there are also small amounts of rosé and white wine from Chenin Blanc. The writer François Rabelais, born near Chinon in the late fifteenth century, praised the wine in his comic novels, and his name is attached to the town's wine traditions. A well-known set of cellars, the Caves Painctes, the painted caves, are used for the ceremonies of the wine brotherhood of Rabelaisian cask-fillers, who meet there to celebrate the harvest.

Visitors can enter some of these caves on guided tours or tastings offered by producers and by the town. The tours explain the history of the quarrying, the way the wine is made and aged, and the character of the different wines, and they usually end with a tasting. The cellars may be dark and damp, so bring a jacket and wear sensible shoes, and note that access is usually by reservation or at set times.

Above the caves, the Château de Chinon, a vast royal fortress made up of three separate castles from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, stands on the ridge. It was a stronghold of the Plantagenet kings, and in 1429, Joan of Arc came here to meet the future Charles VII. The Vieux Chinon, the old town, has half-timbered houses and narrow lanes, and the Collégiale Saint-Mexme, the Musée de Chinon, the Musée de la Résistance and the Parc de la Loire give more to see.

The caves suit wine lovers, history fans and curious travellers. Remember not to drive after tasting, and book ahead in summer.