Leon, a globe-trotting Frenchman from the Loire Valley, arrived in the city 13 years ago.

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Down on a farm in the Loire valley, Bayrou is stressing his rural roots.

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Chenin Blanc almost certainly originated in the central Loire Valley, although both California and South Africa have more acreage planted in it.

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Not surprisingly, he said it was a Chenin Blanc from his native Loire Valley, but he couldn't remember the maker or the vintage.

WSJ: Singing of France's Unsung Chenin Blanc | On Wine by Jay McInerney

American Ambassador to Germany Richard Holbrooke rode to the rescue, offering me a consoling trip through the Loire valley in his armored Buick.

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The order was a response to last month's attack on a police station in the Loire Valley town of Saint-Aignan by a group of young Roma.

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Indeed, Sancerre is physically closer to Chablis than many other regions in the Loire Valley, and the best of its wines have much in common with those flinty white Burgundies.

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Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley in France.

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Chenin reaches its greatest heights in the Loire Valley, but in keeping with French practice you won't see the name of the grape on the bottle, but rather the village or region where it's grown.

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One of my favorites in the "interesting but not intellectually taxing" category is Vouvray, the dry, minerally white from the Loire Valley that's delicious when young but amazing with a few years' age, particularly made by great producers like Domaine Huet and Jacky Blot.

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