Visit this morning to Paul Buisse, a long established family négociant in Montrichard, mainly to taste some of the 2008 whites but also some of the rest of the range.

Claudine and Paul Buisse

Paul points to his birth year

Fungus growing on the barrels in the cellars.
The barrels are cleaned every two or three years.
The cellars at Paul Buisse are unusual as they rise upwards
instead of down, which is the norm.

To be continued .....

Photo: CRM

Above and below: ice floes speeding down the River Cher at Montrichard this morning. Just shows how cold it has been.

There is a useful list of market days in southern Touraine on the Les Saveurs du Val de Loire site. The area covered runs from Chatillon-sur-Indre to Bléré and across to Mantelan.

Montrichard and its fortress

Worth adding to this list is the small Sunday morning market in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher and the large and very good market in Montrichard on Friday morning.

Loches market and a saucisson stall