Orléans-Cléry — terroir, soils & grape varieties

The Red Wine of Cléry

Across five communes on the left bank of the Loire, south-west of Orléans, Orléans-Cléry is a tiny appellation — about thirty hectares — devoted entirely to cabernet franc red wine. Granted AOC status in 2006, it thus stands apart from its neighbour Orléans, which relies on entirely different grape varieties.

Terroir and Style

The plots, widely scattered, occupy a gently sloping hillside amid orchards, on the edge of the wooded Sologne massif. On these soils, cabernet franc gives simple, honest, fruity reds with a ruby hue, best enjoyed young, within their first two to five years.

The grape varieties of Orléans-Cléry