Jacqueline Friedrich: The Wine Humanist WINE BY PEOPLE, FOR PEOPLE; WINE FROM THE HEART

This time next week I will be on a local train taking me from the Port Boulet station to the Gare Angers St. Lo on my way to the Salon des Vins de Loire. I always have an ambitious program planned for myself and am lucky if I manage to accomplish a third of what I’ve planned. I’m also often asked to take people around or to tell them which producers they must see. Well, there are some 500, maybe more, exposants and every visitor has his or her own particular needs or interests. So I thought I’d provide a list of stands that will give everyone from the first time visitor to the 15-year-veteran something to discover.
One of the first things a visitor will notice is that there are stands of varying sizes, from single vintner, to mega-negociant, to groupings of a half-dozen like-minded producers, to alleys of growers from a single appellation or sub-region. I’m going to recommend an assortment.(Alas, I must leave out many that I love but, if you visit all these stands, you'll get a pretty fair image of what's going on in the Loire.) Herewith:
Group Stands
-- Stand L-M 308: Vinibegood: wide (and ever-evolving) range of idealistic producers of varying quality, some of them top, eg Philippe Alliet (Chinon); Victor Lebreton and Didier Richou (Coteaux de l’Aubance and Anjou-Villages-Brissac), but all of them worth your while.
-- Stand LM 315: the irrepressible, ever inventive Henry Marionnet and his singular Touraines; Huet / Vouvray (need I say more?); Pierre Luneau-Papin seriously serious Muscadets, as well as Michel Redde (Pouilly-Fume), Olivier Deletang Montlouis; Joel Taluau St. Nicolas de Bourgueil, and Pierre-Jacques Druet (Bourgueil).
--Stand H – I 176: Among the outstanding producers at this stand you’ll find (Muscadet), Domaine de Montrieux (Coteaux du Vendomois), Francois Plouzeau/Domaine de la Garreliere (Touraine), Thierry Michon (Fiefs Vendeens).

Individual Producer Stands:
-- Francois Chidaine: terrific producer of Montlouis and Vouvray.
-- Claude & Joelle Papin/Chateau Pierre-Bise : extraordinary examples of the entire Anjou range, including Savennieres, Quarts de Chaume and Chaume as well as numerous cuvees of Layon, bottled by terroir, and excellent Anjou-Villages.
-- Domaine Vincent & Catherine Ogereau: more extraordinary examples of the entire Anjou range, again including Savennieres and Coteaux du Layon, esp. Les Bonnes Blanches.
-- Domaine Yannick Amirault: super producer of Bourgueil and St. Nicolas de Bourgueil.
-- Domaine Bernard Baudry: top-notch Chinon.
-- Clos Roche Blanche: excellent range of organic Touraine AC.
-- Tatin-Wilk : very fine examples of Quincy and Reuilly.
-- Cross the aisle from Tatin-Wilk to the stand of Francois Pinon excellent producer of organic Vouvray, and Domaine Nau, often overlooked producer of top-notch Bourgueil.
-- Domaine de Belliviere: must-taste Jasnieres and Coteaux du Loire from Eric Nicolas.
-- Domaine Henri Bourgeois: It's a large stand but for a single, large grower-negociant house. Excellent Sancerres and Pouillys.
-- Domaine de Reuilly: Denis Jamain is currently the finest producer of Reuilly.