Vouvray

Vouvray



Vouvray, with its wine of world-renowned smoothness and elegance, is a municipality that made its first recorded appearance in 1284, when it went by the name of Vovray. Irrigated by the Cisse, which runs through it, it stretches gracefully along the right bank of the royal River Loire. Characterised by its picturesque troglodytic houses, its expanse of vineyards and its steep hillsides, Vouvray made a strong impression on Balzac, who passed through the village in 1831. “Vouvray nestles among gorges and rocky masses... In more than one place, three levels of houses have been carved out of the rock, perilously connected by stairways cut straight out of the stone…” Let local history work its magic as you visit the 11th-century Notre Dame-Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church and contemplate the majestic Château de Moncontour, whose story is so closely bound up with that of Honoré de Balzac. For pilgrims, Vouvray lies on the Way of Saint James of Compostela, as attested by the stone in Place d’Holnon indicating the “via turonensis”, as well as on the Way of Saint Martin.