Can you afford to ignore the Loire?

I am ashamed of how relatively sparse our coverage of Loire wines is, particularly since they offer such great value, and their attributes – freshness and a sense of place in particular – are currently so popular. I keep meaning to revisit the annual wine fair in Angers that has always been such a useful showcase for the wines of the region, but now I hear that this event has rather lost ground to a substitute organised in Paris. 

The 2016 vintage in the Loire was horribly short, affected by just about...