Local produce
Sancerre is a village shaped by its vineyards, but the region’s food culture is just as distinctive. The hilltop vines, the goat’s cheeses of Chavignol, the honeys and lentilles vertes of the Berry and so much more - these are the other flavours that define the Sancerrois.
Chavignol, sitting just behind Sancerre, is the centre of the Crottin de Chavignol appellation, a famous goat's cheese, this year celebrating 30 years of AOP status. It’s a small village with a big reputation: Monts Damnés rising above it, tasting rooms and fine domains clustered around it, and restaurants that make it worth a dedicated visit.
(La Côte des Monts Damnés is the steep hillside that rises directly above Chavignol — one of the most famous vineyards in Sancerre. The slope is so sharp that it was once considered “damned” to work, but today it produces some of the appellation’s most distinctive wines.)
This page highlights a few local products and the places where you can find them — not a full directory, but a curated selection of the foods that make Sancerre feel like Sancerre.
Chavignol - 4 km
Chavignol is the village tucked just below the Monts Damnés, behind Sancerre, and the meeting point of wine, culture, and the geography that makes Sancerre what it is.
The vineyards rise steeply above it, the lanes take you away westward to the vast area of wine production and the whole place feels shaped by wine.
It’s a small but rewarding village: tasting rooms where you can try wines from multiple producers, from the terroir of Chavignol to more distant vineyards; the Galerie Garnier Delaporte showing contemporary art; and restaurants like La Côte des Monts Damnés serving classic French cuisine to others serving simple local food eg toast with Chavignol cheese.
Chavignol is a place to wander around slowly — to taste, to buy a bottle or two, to contemplate at the landscape under the beating sun, and to stay for lunch, watching Sancerre Life quietly happen in front of you.
Chèvrerie de Chaumon, Thauvenay - 3km
This unassuming - but well protected! - farm produces Crottins de Chavignol cheese and also breeds Shetland ponies. Plus it's easy to reach.
Drop down into the village of Ménétréol from Sancerre and you'll find the canal in front of you (and two restaurants and a bakery). Cross the canal bridge and head down the tree-lined avenue to where you see the recycling containers. Turn right (and it's signposted). Head along there for 2-3 minutes.
Opening hours: Monday: 9:30 - 12h
Tuesday to Saturday: 9:30 - 12h/16 - 18.30h
Wednesdays, Sundays and bank holidays - closed.
La Bête Noire Sancerroise, Thauvenay - 3 km
The Bête Noire fromagerie is something else. It's a huge modern farm, production site and shop for Crottin de Chavignol.
It is a destination in itself with outdoor areas for children to learn about animals and you can get up close to the goats. They live both outside and inside where you're able to watch them from a viewing area.
During the day there are frequent times where you can join in a wine and cheese tasting - 'dégustation'.
The shop not only sells its own cheese, but also a wide range of local produce including wines, cooking oils, jams, candles, honey, lentils, eggs....
Also popular for car collectors looking to stop off.
Directions: drop down into Ménétréol and turn right following the road towards la Charité, parallel with the canal on your left. Take the first left at the Loch 33 of the canal. Go over the canal and turn left following the signs.
Opens every day until 18h, and closed from 12h to 14h.
La ferme du Port Aubry, Cosne-sur-Loire, Nièvre, 12km
This is also a simply affair. It's a chevrèrie producing Crottin de Chavignol, with a shop.
I have passed it so many times by cycle when following the Loire without realising what it is - which does not make any sense. There's a huge blue sign, which I somehow thought was antiquated... The shop has a great range of local produce and is really worth visiting. Lovely people.
Les Halles de Loire - indoor food market
Les Halles de Loire - 34 Quai de Maréchal Foch, la Charité-sur-Loire - 30km
Formerly a slaughterhouse, the building has been transformed into an excellent airy indoor market with a boulangerie/patisserie, selling local and French fruit and vegetables, wines, cheese, charcuterie, mustards, biscuits.
It's a bit hidden away and not very well signposted, to be honest. Look at for the sign below which is for the boulangerie.