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The area of Saint-Emilion extends around the homonymous village, near the city of Libourne, along the Dordogne river.  Here, among gentle hills covered with vineyards, some of the most prestigious French red wines are produced.  And walking in this wonderful landscape is a pure pleasure! Saint Emilion The main grapes are Merlot and Cabernet Franc, followed, in a much lower percentage, by Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. The wines of Saint-Emilion are quite different from those produced in Médoc; this is due both to the different composition of the soil (mainly limestone in Saint Emilion) and to the greater use of Merlot grapes that produce wines much rounder and softer than the Médoc ones. Grapes, Saint Emilion The tourist office in Saint Emilion offers plenty of brochures and maps to explore the surrounding area. During our weekend there, after visiting the beautiful city centre , we chose to walk the 11Km long circular trail called 'Entre Combes et Coteaux' .   T...

Saint-Emilion is the ideal destination for a weekend break in the countryside and a must stop on a road trip through France. Saint-Emilion Saint-Emilion is known all over the world for its wines and its beautiful chateaux surrounded by vineyards, but very few people know that this village has a rich history of 2000 years. One of the testimonies of this historical baggage is underground, in the 200 Km of galleries that run under the village; the rest is above, in the many religious buildings and monuments to visit .  The village was founded in the 8th century by a Breton monk, Emilian. Since 1999, Saint Emilion and the 8 municipalities within its jurisdiction have been listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site .  Here, the omnipresent limestone provides an exceptional soil for the vines. And the same limestone was used to build the elegant medieval city and many buildings in Bordeaux. As soon as you enter this small town, you will come across the ancient ruins of a former Dominic...

Viticulture has a long history in the Dordogne : the vine arrived here with the emergence of the Gallo- Roman civilization. And, although in the 12th century production was often neglected in favor of food crops, the wine trade resumed in the 17th century. The vineyard extended throughout the department until the late 19th century when the outbreak of phylloxera destroyed most of the vineyards reducing the whole surface to one fifth of the total. The vine came back to life in the 20th century on both banks of the river Dordogne in the area of Bergerac and Duras, but it’s in the last 20 years that wine production became more refined and reached a wider attention with various wines awarded in French competitions and the advance of organic and biodynamic techniques. Vines, Dordogne Vines, Dordogne Vineyards now cover more than 12,000 hectares under 9 appellations and produce 5 different types of wine: red, rosé, dry white, medium sweet white (moelleux) and dessert wine. The de...