2015 Les Grandes Tablées: great evening boating on the Loire

Enjoyed a great evening on the Loire dining and drinking Saumur-Champigny on a boat taking us from Monsoreau to Saumur carefully navigating some very shallow parts of the river. Vignerons on the boat included Patrick Vadé, currently président of the Saumur-Champigny producers, Frédéric Filliatreau, a past président, Philippe Porcher and Richard Desouche. 

Looking towards the confluence of the Loire with the Vienne

A soirée de la modération....

Boats take cover Jim @helm

 Captain Christine Austin 

Captain Juel Mahoney

 François – the legendary baker responsible for 

organising the baking for Les Grandes Tablées

including over 6000 portions of crumble 

 Hot air balloon over the Château de Saumur 

 Great sunset 

Frédéric Filliatreau

Under the bridge@Saumur

2015 Les Grands Tablées de Saumur-Champigny: 5th and 6th August

2005 Grands Tablées  

I'm looking forward to going to Les Grands Tablées this year. I went once before as a guest of the Saumur-Champigny producers and it was a brilliant visit. Again 10 years on I have been kindly invited. The event has grown considerably over the past decade and now stretches over two days.

 

2005 turned out to be a good vintage and 2015 is looking promising, although drought is a problem and there is still a long way to go. 

Details of the event:   
5th and 6th August: 2km of tables and 6,000 meals – major food & wine feast in Saumur-Champigny

Les Grandes Tablées de Saumur-Champigny is a gastronomic and wine celebration in the heart of the Loire Valley where a meal for some 6,000 people is served to visitors over a two-day marathon festival in the centre of Saumur.  It is the place to be in the Loire in August if you love food, wine and merriment!

For each of the past fifteen years the winegrowers from Saumur-Champigny have played host to special guests from one specific export market. 2015 marks the turn of the British, and the event will include touches of Britishness, including British traditional dishes and popular music.

To accompany the meal, 4,000 bottles of Saumur-Champigny will be served from 20 stands around the Place de la République. The wine chosen for this occasion is called the ‘Cuvée des 100 Vignerons,’ (wine from one hundred growers) a bespoke wine for which the hundred or so local winemakers each contribute 15 kilos of grapes, to produce a special wine which reflects the vintage.  Four of these cuvées – recent ones as well as older – will be served to guests.  

The stats:

·         6,000 meals will be served throughout the two days of the festival

·         4,000 bottles of Saumur-Champigny will be opened

·         Over 10,000 people are expected to visit Saumur-Champigny during the festival

·         Local winemakers, in a nod to the Brits, will present a statue of Richard III to nearby Fontevraud Abbey (King Richard’s ancestors are buried in the Abbey)

·         If all the tables from the meal were put end to end they would reach 2km in length

·         French Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Le Foll will attend the event this year

·         A crowdfunding platform will be set up at the event, for people to acquire bottles of a future Richard III of Fontevraud cuvée or to access bespoke stays at the 4 star Fontevraud Hotel

 

Notes to editors:

Details: Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th August 2015 from 7pm, Place de la République in Saumur.

Prices: Meal and an engraved tasting glass - €12.00. Tasting glass only - €5.00 (available on site)

Book : Saumur Tourist Office, quai Carnot, 49400 Saumur

www.ot-saumur.com – Tel: 02 41 40 20 60

Les Grandes Tablées du Saumur Champigny: 5th and 6th August

2005 Grandes Tablées du Saumur-Champigny 
 

In 2005 the producers of Saumur-Champigny invited a group of British press and other friends of the Loire, like Nigel Wilkinson (RSJ Restaurant) to Les Grands Tablées. The visit was truly memorable and included a a cricket match as well as a boules forts competition. The British contingent was ungracious enough to win both contests. 

Now 10 years later we have been invited back. Not sure where they will find bowler hats as I haven't seen anyone wearing one for many years. One of the last great bowler hatted gentlemen – Trad Jazzman Acker Bilk – died last November.

Les Grandes Tablées du Saumur Champigny:  

 “So British”, August 5^th and 6^th 2015 

Saumur Champigny’s winegrowers have promised to sport bowler hats as they greet their British friends on August 5^th and 6^th this year. Last year, the focus for this great event was Belgium and the dominion of King Philippe; this year the spotlight falls on the loyal subjects of Queen Elizabeth II. The British are no strangers to this part of the world, and will no doubt make time to visit Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart who are buried nearby in the Abbey at Fontevraud. 

Now in its 15^th year – 6,000 meals served in the centre of town!

6,000 meals served to 3,000 guests per day over 2 evenings, with another 2,000 strolling by just to have a look – this event has really struck a chord with the public. Every summer, Saumur becomes a huge open-air restaurant full of good humour and festive spirit. Long rows of tables are set out in the town square for visitors to enjoy local foods and Saumur Champigny wines in the company of the winegrowers themselves. On Wednesday 5^th and Thursday 6^th August, a full 2 km of tables will be in position outside the town hall, ready to welcome this year’s guests. 

Yes, there really is such a thing as good British food…

To dispel the myths, organisers are going out of their way to prove that British gastronomy is alive and well. Alongside local Saumur products, they will be serving mushroom pies, pork pies, fresh seasonal vegetables, goat’s cheese, blueberry chutney, red berry crumble…all the traditional English favourites revisited. 

Pop Music

Unfortunately the current British Pop Idols can’t join us on this occasion, but the 5 bands we have lined up to entertain us in the Place de la République are sure to pay them fitting tribute. Programme to be confirmed. 

La Cuvée de 100 Vignerons 
There will, of course, be unlimited wine to accompany your meal, with  20 stands around the Place de la République serving 4,000 bottles of Saumur Champigny Cuvée de 100 Vignerons. This is a wine made especially for the occasion: around 100 vignerons contribute 15 kg of grapes each to make a wine which ‘reflects the vintage’.  Every year, 4 of these cuvées are served during the evenings, young wines as well as older ones.  

An international attraction

Les Grandes Tablées de Saumur Champigny was the first event of its kind, and the first to win the Ministry of Agriculture’s “Grande Tablée – les Rabelaisiennes” seal of approval, spearheading their drive to create a series of similar gourmet events in towns and cities all over France. Together with FESTIVINI, a wine festival held in September, Les Grandes Tablées de Saumur Champigny won the Prix René Renou in 2013, a prize awarded by ANEV, the National Association of Official Vine and Wine Representatives and FIJEV, the International Federation of Wine and Spirits writers.

Details: Wednesday 5^th and Thursday 6^th August 2015 from 7pm, Place de la République in Saumur. Prices: Meal and an engraved tasting glass - €12.00. Tasting glass only - €5.00

To book your place:
Saumur Tourist Office, quai Carnot, 49400 Saumur

www.ot-saumur.com – Tel: 0033 2 41 40 20 60