In the west, the old rocks of the Armorican Massif give dark schist and slate, and locals call this part Anjou noir. In the east, towards Saumur, the chalk of the Paris basin gives the pale stone of Anjou blanc. The Mauges hills to the west shelter the vines from wet ocean winds, so the area gets only about 585 millimetres of rain a year.

Anjou was first recognised on 14 November 1936, and sparkling Anjou in 1938. The white is made mainly from Chenin Blanc, with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc limited to 20 percent of the vines. It is usually dry, but on sunny slopes in a fine autumn it can be medium-dry or sweet. Red Anjou comes from Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a little Grolleau or Pineau d'Aunis, and is made to drink within about three years. Rosé d'Anjou and Cabernet d'Anjou are separate rosé appellations, and Anjou Villages, created in 1991, is a separate one for reds from fewer communes.

Production grew from the sixteenth century, when Dutch merchants came to buy, and in the eighteenth the Layon river was canalised to carry the wine. The vineyard covered 45,000 hectares in 1881, and after phylloxera only 10,000 were left in 1893. Anjou made its name with Chenin whites, and its red wines spread from the 1960s.

Pierre Ménard started his estate at Faye-d'Anjou in 2013 with a plot of century-old Chenin on schist above the Layon. Richard Leroy, who settled at Rablay-sur-Layon in 1996, once bottled his dry Chenin as Anjou before leaving the appellation for Vin de France.

The wines above are the Anjou wines in the cellar. See also Coteaux du Layon for sweet Chenin, Saumur on the chalk to the east, or the full range of Loire Valley wines.