The following 177 wine reviews are in response to the several requests Purple Pagers have made for more coverage of Loire wines - quite rightly since these are such good value, their natural...

The 2012 harvest is over. A few parcels of Chenin were left hanging out in the Layon (below), waiting for the weather to go cold, sunny and windy but in the end hardly any really sweet wine was...

Charles (left, clearly enjoying the harvest) and Philippa Sydney, wine brokers in the Loire Valley with a passion for the region and extreme determination to support its wine growers, have sent...

European vintage reports are now flooding in thick and fast. The following account of the Loire Valley's prospects for 2011 comes from Charles Sydney, who runs a courtier business there with...

I find myself more excited about the range of wines being made around the world from Sauvignon Blanc grapes than I ever have before. There was a time not that long ago when we seemed to have...

As has been remarked on our Members' forum recently, the Loire is a seriously underestimated source of wonderful wine - especially nowadays. Chinon-based wine broker (and talented amateur...

From £13.75, $19.99 Find this wine There are definitely fashions in grape varieties, which makes life very difficult for grape growers since it can take a good three years after...

I tasted these wines blind in the cellars of Buckingham Palace recently. They had been submitted as possible purchases for Her Majesty's dining table by wine merchants with a royal warrant and a...

Charles and Philippa Sydney, boundlessly enthusiastic and highly successful courtiers (brokers) for Loire wines, based in Chinon, have sent us their preliminary, pre-fermentation report on the...

Over the past 30 years during which I initially bought, sold and highly recommended the extremely food-friendly wines of the Loire valley as a restaurateur and then subsequently enjoyed them as...

Wine is worth about €1.2 billion to the producers of the Loire valley. Until last year about 70 million bottles were exported – worth €220 million – and a massive 40% of that went to the...

Chenin and Cabernet Franc started flowering in the Loire Valley last week, and now Sauvignon Blanc. You can tell how Chinon wine broker Charles Sydney feels about his beloved Loire when you see...

Charles and Philippa Sydney, courtiers en vins de Loire based in Chinon, sent this enthusiastic preliminary report, written mid Nov. All photos courtesy of Charles. Although it's still a...

If Menetou Salon, Quincy and Reuilly are the poor relations of Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, spare a thought for the Loire vignerons producing Sauvignon Blanc outside these famous Central Vineyard...

Charles Sydney, courtier en vins de Loire, sends this update to his September vintage report now that he has tasted many of the wines. To summarise this...