Owing to a lucky coincidence, just as I was heading to France to sample the latest and greatest bubblies in the Champagne region, a friend asked me to write a travelogue of my experiences as I continued on over to the Loire Valley, took in the sights, and tasted the fruit of the vine from Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé, Reuilly, and Menetou-Salon, all the way to Chinon, Saumur, Savennières, and beyond. The castles were, as always, magnificent and beyond compare, and the 2017 and 2018 vintages made me realize I had to stop whining about the lack of good wine years! (It turned out that 2019, which already showed promising weather, was an even finer vintage!) 

But as fate would have it, they were so many crazy things going on at the castles I visited—starting with Chambord, the castle of castles, and then at Chenonceau, Amboise, the Clos Lucé, Villandry, Langeais, Azay-le-Rideau, Saumur, and that unknown jewel, Oiron—that I had to put my wine tasting on hold and deal with the wackiest of crimes being committed in this incredibly beautiful and historic region of France. It was one heck of a trip!

You can read all about it in The da Vinci Staircase…