The best examples are Sancerre (mainly white, but also red and rose') and Pouilly Fume, which is very similar to Sancerre, but sometimes can have a smoky taste (Fume means smoked).

Touraine, the area around the city of Tours, was the pre-revolution playground of the French aristocracy. It produces the light red Cabernet Franc based wines in Chinon (much promoted by the region's most famous literary son - Rabelais) and Bourgueil. It also produces a good range of white wines in Vouvray, which is made from Chenin Blanc.

The very high acid of the Chenin Blanc grape means that Vouvrays need to age longer than the other whites: about ten years for the dry ones. Vouvray Mousseux is a sparkling wine from the same area. Since there is a lot of Vouvray buy only reliable producers. Look for estate - bottled rather than merchant-bottled wines. The star vineyard here is Huet and Gaston Huet hit the headlines in 1990 with his protests against the building of TGV train tracks over the Vouvray vineyards. A compromise was reached and the tracks were built in tunnels under the hilly vineyards.

Further along the Loire river towards the Atlantic Ocean, Anjou is famous for its pink wine the Rose d'Anjou. It also produces Savennieres, dry white wine made from Chenin Blanc and a sparkling wine at Saumur.