Caves Ambacia | 1463 — Attraction in Loches

Exceptionally poor quality of service. Abandoned the experience as it was intolerable. It was apparent on entering the service was not going to be good . Took a long time for the first waiter to approach, he explained he believed we were not new arrivals but previous customers! He said he would get a menu. He did not. A while a second waiter came to the table. , we asked for a menu. He brought one another long wait before the second waiter was called over. He said that he thought his colleague had taken the order. He had not. Second waiter returned again to take our for good and drinks including water. Another long wait. Drinks arrive but no water . Plenty of bread baskets delivered to other tables. Not ours. Second waiter returns again to say food would be ready in 5 mins. I remind him about not having water. Second waiter turns about 5 mins later with food. He talks through our food choice and expressly mentions the need for bread with some ingredients. There is still no water or bread. I remind him. He then takes an order for coffee from the adjacent table and goes away , returns five minutes later with their coffee. I remind him again about not having bread or water. He goes away. Five minutes later the bread and water arrives. At this point I can no longer tolerate the service as I have spent so long waiting while the waiter flits randomly taking new orders before finalising the my request. Having given so many reminders and waited in vain I am no longer in the frame of mind to enjoy any food. This is a shame as I think I would have enjoyed it had there been anything like acceptable service. I walked-out having made a significant contribution for a lousy experience. I regret making the...

We recently visited Caves Ambacia, and it was a pretty interesting experience, especially if you are new to the world of wine. Its location is very convenient, being so close to places like Tours and Amboise, and we had no trouble at all finding a place to park.

The tour started with some explanations about wine, which were genuinely useful for getting a basic understanding. There was also a part where we could smell different aromas, which was a nice touch and quite fun for our kid. To be honest, the caves were not the most exciting part. You see a lot of old bottles in a damp, dimly lit space. It was interesting to see, but it was not something that will surprise you.

The wine tasting at the end was good. It was a fairly standard tasting, but we enjoyed trying the different wines. It was nice that they welcomed children and even gave them a juice so that they also had something to 'taste'.

The part we enjoyed the most was actually lunch after the tour. The restaurant on site is very good. A good tip is to decide what you want to eat when you first arrive and let them know before you start the tour. That way, your food will be ready for you when you finish. We ordered one of the regional cheese boards, and it was excellent. It was a great way to enjoy some local flavors along with their wines.

It's a worthwhile stop if you are in the area and have an...

We visited as a group and had a great tour of the cave cellar followed by a tasting with accompanying cheese and meats. We were able to get a tour on the same day and liked the knowledgable team and variety of wines. We even came back to buy more! There are so many caves and vineyards to try so what we liked about this one was: Variety and vintage of the wines on offer was extensive and more than we found in other locations. The depth of vintage at a high quality stands out. The tour and tasting was reasonably priced and included a solid range of wines, from white to red and some solid vintages. The 2005 we had was a real treat. The wine tasting area has a professional set up and aims to make it more of an experience as opposed to a simple drive by tasting stop. The wine browsing area is set up very well making browsing easy and fun with a lovely ambience. The team were engaging but not pushy and offered the chance to taste various bottles. Their knowledge was combined with openness about their personal favs. We liked that. We didn’t try the on site restaurant but the cheese and meat counter was great. We particularly liked the smoked duck! Overall, we have driven into many vineyards for simple tasting but the ambiance, quality, vintage and cheese/meat counter elevated the experience and made it a very...