Tours

I found myself in the city of Tours (Loire Valley) for a week without a car; it wasn’t an accident that we were carless — we actually planned it this way. We love spending a week exploring a new town (city). Thus, there were no visits to any number of the beautiful châteaux in the valley or, more to the point of this article, no visits to any Loire Valley wineries. Fear not, though, Les Halles — the incredible market house in Tours — had a wonderful wine store near the main entrance: Les Belles Caves. I got to know the owners pretty well.

Being there, I knew that I would want to write about Loire wines for you, even though they are “off topic.” A note to our die-hard Provence wine aficionados: I did get one very nice and ridiculously inexpensive Provence rosé at the Carrefour our first night, as Les Halles was closed. Oddly, the grocery store had a large selection of wine, but none that I could find from the Val de Loire. A puzzlement.

A recipe I created the week before in Paris, Crevettes au Paprika Doux, needed a good wine pairing. I made it several times during out three-week trip and everyone for whom I made it loved it. It is a wonderful and easy-to-prepare ... [...]