Saint Emilion Wineries
One last adventure in the Bordeaux area was to tour St. Emilion. Very well known for excellent wines, we visited during the week to avoid the crowds. Perfect timing, we were able to park, stroll along the narrow streets and visit any wine shop of our choice. No crowds at all!
St. Emilion has a varied history concerning their wine classifications but today they have 64 Grand Cru Classe (excellent) and 18 Premier Grand Cru Classe (mucho excellent). It’s no surprise that the largest winery, Chateau Angelus, has one of the highest rated wines, a Premier Grand Cru Classe A, since it is the growers that assign / agree to the ratings. It really is very good wine!
The town of St. Emilion is surrounded by vineyards. Most of these vineyards are small, family growers who have been growing grapes for decades and are on average 7 acres or less. This is not a newer industry in St. Emilion, and grapes have been grown in this region since the days of the Romans, around 2AD! Wine making here is credited to the monks who followed, who else, Emilion, around the 8th century set up commercial wineries. God bless those monks!
During our stroll, we came across a winery that offered free cellar tours and tastings. Chateau Galhaud vineyard is located on the edge of town, but their aging cellars and tasting room are located in town. For 3 generations this family has been storing their wine in ancient carved limestone cellars that are 4 stories deep and 150 meters long to maintain the perfect aging temperature. We sampled 2 reds which were Grand Cru classification and were both excellent. Had to buy a bottle, so we dropped 35EU (little less than $40USD) for the Moulin Galhaud Grand Cru.
The good stuff!
Best tip about wine tasting here, don’t go on the weekend. Everyone in Bordeaux and the surrounding region travels here on the weekend for wine and food. There are many wineries and shops that have free wine tasting so unless you have a favorite, skip the pay tours. We went to two shops that didn’t charge for tasting and sampled several growers, even Chateau Angelus. Good deal for you my friend.
Typical French balcony
Why we do this……
Best invention ever!
Bit of a climb. Real interesting when it rains!
