1,700 entries, nearly half a thousand glasses sold, 220 meals served on Saturday evening… The first edition of the Books and Wines in Terre de Loire fair was a hit.
Jean-Pierre Delpuech, president of the Livres et vins en Terre de Loire association, did not hide his happiness on Sunday evening. “We wanted this show to be popular, festive, friendly, accessible, family-friendly and free, part of the AOC orléans and orléans-cléry territory. We revived a memory, introduced wines,” he rejoiced. Everyone involved in this new event was happy with its success, because the public responded.
“I discovered some good wines, too confidential”
Some 1,700 visitors strolled through the aisles of the show, meeting the exhibitors. Like Anne-Lise, an Orléans native from Burgundy who, while tasting the wines from the Chant d'oiseau vineyard, confided: “It's a good surprise. I discovered good wines which remain too confidential. It’s good to make them known and to highlight the work of winegrowers.”
Words that resonated with professionals. “We meet people who are interested in our wines, who want to know how they are made. There are real exchanges,” assured Bénédicte Piel, winemaker at Clos Saint-Fiacre, thanking the organizers for the quality of the event.
Satisfaction was also on the side of the authors, publishers and booksellers, who appreciated that these same visitors moved easily to literature and showed the same curiosity for the books presented, that they talked about poetry, local history or oenology.
The four high-level conferences on words and the history of wine, given in a packed room, illustrated this obvious link between literature and wine. With, as a bonus, a dictation taken from the Gargantua by Rabelais which brought together around thirty people, followed by the tasting of some wine readings.
France
Books
