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Alain-supplier
and the Great Meulnes
Alain-Fournier, a writer born in 1886 in La Chapelle d'Angillon, lived at the hinge of the 19th and 20th centuries. "Le Grand Meaulnes" evokes the places and landscapes of the Cher: La Chapelle d'Angillon, Nançay, the abbey of Loroy, Epineuil-le-Fleuriel.
News
channels of communication
New channels of communication, created in the first half of the 19th century, prelude the installation of important industries:
the Berry Canal inaugurated in 1842 crosses the Cher department and joins Montluçon. The Paris/Orléans railway line is extended south towards Vierzon (1844) and Bourges (1847).
Metallurgical industry
The metallurgical industry was established in Vierzon at the end of the 18th century and developed in the following century. In Bourges, the Mazières foundries were created by Léonce Louis Melchior, Marquis de Vogüé, in 1847.
Porcelain
Porcelain becomes a Berrichonne specialty at the same time: a small kaolin deposit discovered in Foëcy is operated by industrialists who build factories in Vierzon, Foëcy and Mehun sur Yèvre.
The manufacture of weapons
The manufacture of weapons became Bourges' specialty: an arsenal, a smelter of cannons, and a school of pyrotechnics were installed between 1860 and 1870; this industry continued today with new technologies.
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Artists
and artisans in La Borne
Around 1940, artists and artisans gathered in the small village of La Borne (near Henrichemont), to exploit the sandstone rod in the north-east of the department.
For several generations, the "potiers de la Borne" have enjoyed an international reputation in the field of ceramics.
The vineyards
In the mid-19th century, the phylloxeric crisis attacked and destroyed all the vineyards of the Centre-Loire. The winemakers then replanted their plots with the Sauvignon grape variety, which was particularly well adapted to the semi-continental climate and to the soils of the various wine villages. Pinot noir, Gamay noir à jus blanc and Pinot gris then complete the ampelography of the region.
As early as 1936, Sancerre and Quincy became known as the "Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée", followed by Reuilly in 1937, Menetou-Salon in 1959 and the Coteaux du Giennois in 1998. Châteaumeillant became A.O.V.D.Q.S. in 1965.
Mechanization and the evolution of technologies will enable the region to be at the forefront of French vineyards and to offer wines of increasingly high quality.
The protection of the environment, the search for an even stronger expression of the terroirs are the new challenges for the winemakers of the Centre-Loire at the dawn of this new century.
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