US Orléans

Union Sportive Orléans Loiret Football (pronounced: [juːnjən spɔrtɪv ɔʁleɑ̃]; commonly referred to as US Orléans or simply Orléans) is a French association football club based in Orléans. The club was founded in 1976 and currently play in the Championnat National, the third division of French football, having been relegated from Ligue 2 in the 2014–15 season. Orléans plays its home matches at the Stade de la Source located within the city. The team is managed by Olivier Frapolli and captained by defender Antar Yahia.

History

The club was originally called Arago Sport Orléanais and founded as the football section of a general sports club in the city. In 1976, the club adopted its current name and turned professional in 1980. The club is based at the modern 5,000 capacity all-seated Stade de la Source. The club's record attendance was 11,680 against AS Monaco in 1989 and its colours are red and yellow.

Honours

Players

Current squad

Orléans

Orléans (UK /ɔːˈlɪənz/;French pronunciation: ​[ɔʁleã]) is a city in north-central France, about 111 kilometres (69 mi) southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret department and of the Centre-Val de Loire region.

Orléans is located on the Loire River where the river curves south towards the Massif Central.

The city of New Orleans (in French, La Nouvelle-Orléans), in Louisiana, United States is named after the commune of Orléans.

Geography

Orléans is located in the northern bend of the Loire, which crosses from east to west. Orléans belongs to the vallée de la Loire sector between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes-sur-Loire, which was in 2000 inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The capital of Orléanais, 120 kilomètres south-south-west of Paris, it is bordered to the north by the Beauce region and the forêt d'Orléans, and the Orléans-la-Source neighbourhood and the Sologne region to the south.

Five bridges in the city cross the river :

Orléans (grape)

Orléans is a variety of white grape (sp. Vitis vinifera) which up until the 19th century was much grown in Germany, but in very little use since the early 20th century. It has large berries with thick skins and a high yield. Young Orléans wine has been described as somewhat reminiscent of wine made from white varieties of the pinot family, but with pineapple aromas.

History

German legends claim that the variety is French in origin, actually from the city of Orléans, and that Charlemagne (742-814) was responsible for the first German plantings, which should have been in Rüdesheimer Berg in Rheingau, which were locally known as Berg Orléans. However, there seem to be no documentary evidence to support this, and other legends point to Charlemagne as an importer of red varieties. The origin of this grape variety is not known with precision; it could have been brought from France by the Cistercian monks who founded much of the German wine industry along Rhine. What is known is that has a long history in the wine-growing areas along the Rhine, where Orléans and Trollinger were common earlier than Riesling. In the 19th century, it was widely used in Gemischter Satz plantation together with varieties such as Elbling, Heunisch, Riesling, Pinot gris, Silvaner and Traminer. In the 19th century, It seems to have been particularly common in many of the best vineyard sites, such as Rüdesheimer Berg in Rheingau and the vineyards Jesuitengarten, Kirchenstück and Ungeheuer around Forst in the Palatinate, where it was mixed with Riesling and Traminer. The reason for this seems to be that, although high yielding, it is a late ripening variety that needed to be planted in these sites in order to ripen properly, and would not give a good quality in every year. Most likely this was the reason for its decline, since it had to compete for the best sites with Riesling. Varietally pure Orléans wines were considered to be heavy, spicy and long-lived.

Orléans AOC

Orléans is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) for wine in the Loire Valley wine region of France situated around the city of Orléans.

History

Contemporary History

This wine has held AOC status since September 2006. Prior to this date it held VDQS status, and the VDQS was renamed from Vins de l'Orléanais to Orléans in 2002. In the course of the 20th century, the Orléans wine-growing area went through a serious decline. Its accession to AOC status has come about now thanks to the unstinting efforts of its own producers over the last 20 years.

Geographical Location

The area lies in the Loiret department in the communes of Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle, Saint-Pryvé-Saint-Mesmin, Baule, Beaugency, Chécy, Cléry-Saint-André, Mardié, Mareau-aux-Prés, Meung-sur-Loire, Mézières-lez-Cléry, Olivet, Orléans, Saint-Ay, Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Mesmin and Saint-Jean-de-Braye.

Geology

Siliceous clay and siliceous gravel soils.

Climate

The climate is semi-oceanic with continental influences.

Wine-growing area