Founded in 1929, the Cave Coopérative du Vendômois has twenty growers who deliver grapes to be sold under the Coteaux du Vendômois appellation. Until the mid-1990s nine-tenths of the production was sold en-vrac to either private clients or the négoce although the balance has now reversed, with most of the wine leaving in bottle. With this quality remit in mind, resident winemaker Nicolas Parmentier has also been identifying specific parcels for special attention.
Le Carillon de Vendôme is a nursery rhyme dating back to the 15th Century and believed to be France’s oldest folk song. Its melody echoes the peel of the bells of the Abbaye de la Trinité in the town of Vendôme. The refrain describes the position of the Dauphin (later Charles VII). After signing the Treaty of Troyes during the Hundred Years’ War, Charles was left only in possession of the cities of Orléans, Beaugency, Cléry, Bourges and Vendôme, with the rest of his Kingdom being occupied by England and its allies.
