Sauvignon Blanc in the Upper Loire is expressed on the Kimmeridgian limestone and silex soils of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume. Wines run from crystalline citrus and white-peach (Sancerre on caillottes) to broader, herbaceous and chalky (terres blanches) and to the smoky, gun-flint character (silex around Saint-Andelain). Most are unoaked and built around razor acidity, capable of 5-12 years of bottle age. Menetou-Salon, Quincy and Reuilly make value alternatives on related soils. Didier Dagueneau's barrel-fermented Silex and Pur Sang from the 1990s onwards demonstrated that Loire Sauvignon could carry oak-driven, age-worthy bottlings.
Chenin Blanc is the Loire's signature white grape, with extraordinary versatility and ageing potential. On the tuffeau of Vouvray and Montlouis it produces dry (sec), off-dry (demi-sec), sweet (moelleux) and sparkling (petillant and methode traditionnelle) styles, with the producer choosing each year based on ripeness and noble rot. On the schist and volcanic soils of Savennieres it makes tight, austere, slow-evolving dry whites. Along the Layon tributary it becomes botrytised sweet wine of multi-decade longevity, capped by Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru and Bonnezeaux. Defining features across styles: searing acidity, beeswax and quince on the palate, and the famous chalk-and-wool texture given by tuffeau.
Known locally as Breton (after Cardinal Richelieu's land manager Abbe Breton who is credited with bringing it from Bordeaux in the 17th century), Cabernet Franc is the Loire's flagship red. In Chinon it expresses three faces: gravel-terrace wines that are fragrant and early-drinking, clay-limestone hillside wines that are mid-bodied and classic, and high-tuffeau-plateau cuvees (Bernard Baudry's Croix Boissee, Charles Joguet's Clos de la Dioterie) that can age 20-30 years. In Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil it is generally lighter and more fragrant; in Saumur-Champigny it gets a tighter, more peppery profile, with Clos Rougeard's Le Bourg considered the appellation's grand cru.
The grape of Muscadet, originally from Burgundy (hence Melon de Bourgogne or Melon B), now found almost exclusively in the Pays Nantais near the Atlantic. After the catastrophic 1709 winter wiped out the Loire-Atlantique vineyard, Melon was replanted because of its frost tolerance. The classic profile is bone-dry, low-alcohol (around 12 percent), saline and sea-spray scented, ideally bottled sur lie (on the fine lees) for added texture. The Cru Communal hierarchy introduced in 2011 (Clisson, Gorges, Le Pallet and others) requires extended lees ageing of 18-24 months and produces age-worthy bottlings that can run 10-20 years.
Pinot Noir accounts for roughly 20 percent of Sancerre's production (and a similar share of Menetou-Salon and Reuilly) as both red and rose. Grown on the same Kimmeridgian and silex soils as the Sauvignon Blanc whites, Sancerre rouge is light to medium-bodied, fragrant and unoaked or lightly oaked, with strawberry and red-cherry fruit. Top sites (Domaine Vacheron's Belle Dame, Alphonse Mellot's En Grands Champs, Henri Pelle's Cromois in Menetou-Salon) can age 10-15 years. Reuilly's Pinot Gris-based rose (a separate niche, vinified pink) is the appellation's quiet specialty.
Touraine's everyday red grape. Used in Touraine AOC, Touraine-Amboise, Touraine-Chenonceaux and Cheverny appellations as either varietal Gamay or blended with Cot (Malbec) and Cabernet Franc. Cool-climate Loire Gamay is brighter, leaner and more red-fruited than Beaujolais Gamay, with bright acidity and low tannin, often vinified by carbonic or semi-carbonic maceration. Increasingly the engine of the Touraine natural-wine movement, with producers such as Catherine and Pierre Breton, the Puzelat brothers (in Cheverny) and Noella Morantin producing chillable, low-intervention reds.
Anjou's rose grape. Grolleau (sometimes Groslot) is high-yielding, low-alcohol and naturally pink-skinned, the workhorse behind off-dry Rose d'Anjou (the appellation's commercial staple) and the drier Rose de Loire. It is rarely sold as a varietal red but is increasingly used by natural-wine producers (Olivier Lemasson, Mark Angeli) to make unique varietal Grolleau bottlings. Cabernet Franc is the partner grape in higher-end rose styles, including the rare Cabernet d'Anjou.
A grape found in exactly one appellation in the world: Cour-Cheverny AOC, a tiny enclave around the Sologne village of Cour-Cheverny in the eastern Touraine. Romorantin was reportedly introduced by Francois I in 1519 from Burgundy, and survived only in this corner of the Loire. Cour-Cheverny is dry to off-dry, with sharp acidity, notes of beeswax, dried citrus and chamomile, and a surprising ability to age 20-plus years from the best producers (Domaine des Huards, Francois Cazin). The appellation was elevated to AOC status in 1993 to protect the grape from extinction.