When Do You Eat Cheese in France?

In the Loire Valley most people eat some cheese every day. All the local cheeses are made from goats milk and that's what people will mostly eat, but they don't restrict themselves to just the local cheese. Hard mountain cheeses are popular, as are the stinky northern cheeses. Most restaurants offer a cheese course with a small selection of carefully chosen cheeses. Cheese is served, usually with a green salad and a glass of local red wine, and slices of baguette, after the main course and before dessert. It is never served with pre-dinner drinks.

The cheese course at a village community lunch.

If you love cheese and want to experience it the way the French serve it, email or use our contact form. and we will include a restaurant that offers a good cheese board in your tour.

French Charcuterie

Charcuterie is cured meat and in France it is usually pork. Charcutieres can be either artisanal or industrial, and many small towns in the Loire Valley have an artisan charcuterie. Certain products are specialities of the area, such as rillettes (pulled pork paste) and rillons (slow cooked pork belly). Others, such as boudins (blanc or noir), garlic sausage, saucisson (dry cured sausage) and hams, are widely made and available everywhere.

A typical working man's plate of charcuterie.

The local French love charcuterie and in working men's restaurants it features heavily on the lunchtime buffet. If you like eating as the locals do and want to try some local cured meat, email or use our contact form. and we will include a restaurant that does a great range of charcuterie in your tour.

Good Value Wine

Now that the New York Times has announced its 2018 list of the 20 best wines for under $20, a secret previously only known to a few wine writers and all of us who live in the Loire Valley has been revealed. Loire Valley wines are great value for money, being very affordable and punching above their weight in terms of quality. Four of the wines on the NYT list are from the Loire Valley.

Our clients enjoy tasting prize winning wine that retails in the US for about $18.

If you love good wine and good value, email or use our contact form. and let us design a tour that includes some of our favourite Loire Valley wineries.