St. Emilion

obried26

Hi everyone,

I am heading over to the St. Emilion area next weekend (with 3 friends) and was keen to tap into people’s knowledge of the area.

We are keen to visit a couple of good local wineries or alternatively do a wine tasting somewhere in the village, where we can try a few nice wines from the area.
If anyone could recommend a few of the good wineries to visit, that would be ace.

I know some of the top châteaux accept visits by appointment only, but I wondered if some of the better Grand Cru classés wineries were worth a visit?

Any help would be much appreciated – thanks.

Slaphead07

obried26 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I am heading over to the St. Emilion area next weekend (with 3 friends) and was keen to tap into people’s knowledge of the area.

We are keen to visit a couple of good local wineries or alternatively do a wine tasting somewhere in the village, where we can try a few nice wines from the area.
If anyone could recommend a few of the good wineries to visit, that would be ace.

I know some of the top châteaux accept visits by appointment only, but I wondered if some of the better Grand Cru classés wineries were worth a visit?

Any help would be much appreciated – thanks.

I'll PM you a contact's email address over there. If he's around he'll be happy to bring you around some of the best growers in the area.

HerrKuehn

if you are interested in buying some nice wines, buy a copy of Le Guide Hachette Des Vins 2012: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Hachette-Des-Vins-2012/dp/2012376991
It costs about €30, I think you will be able to get it in France in a reasonably large town/city. It is in french, I dont speak any french, but I found it very useful. I think it will save you money as you can compare what the different wineries are charging. If you want to know what the explanation is, use google translate (its also quite funny).

Bateman

Let us know how you get on. Would be interested as it's something I plan to do, and don't speak any French myself.

mc_grens

When you get in to St. Emilion itself go to the "Maison Du Vin" in the town centre and they'll be able to give you info on tours, etc.

obried26

Bateman wrote: »

Let us know how you get on. Would be interested as it's something I plan to do, and don't speak any French myself.

Yep, will give a full report when I get back.

bamboozle

spent a week in St. Emilion at the start of the summer, smashing place, did a few tours the highlight being Chateau Gaudet (they're grand cru classe), their vineyard is just outside the village beside the 12th century wall (you'll know it when you see it) but like a lot of the Chateau it has its cellars in the town. Incredible cellar, they had bottles dating back to 1908, showed us the original entrance into the cellar that the great grandfather blocked up when the nazi's occupied the house.

Chateaux Villemaurine is in the town and they do lots of daily candle lit tours of their cellers, a few a day are in english (4.30pm is)

There's a great restaurant called L'envers du decor, all the locals eat there, its real famous as a haunt for wine writers etc.

there was one dreadful restaurant which was part of a small hotel on one of the steep side streets.

Libourne has a brilliant market on sundays which is well worth the visit.

Montagne is a village about 5km from St. E. where Petrus is located. Dont think Petrus do tours but its well worth the drive out there, stunning countryside.

If you havent heard of Petrus the locals talk a lot about it over there, they produce only a few thousand bottles a year and its really expensive 400-500 for the bad years.

If you're going to buy wines i'd recommend going to a few of the different wine stores to chat to them, after we'd bought our bottles we got talking in another store to a guy who showed us the different wines from vineyards owned by the family which own Petrus but were a fraction of the price.

the St. Emilion classifications are:

premier grand cru classe (A &
grand cru classe
grand cru
St. Emilion AOC

Edit - just remembered there's a great small train ride around St. Emilion (7 or 8 quid each) you are give ear phones so you can listen in english and it travels around the town and passes by the local vineyards, it also stops at one where you can do tasting.

enjoy!

PS - I'm hoping to go to the Sancerre region next year if anyone has any tips on the area?

Bateman

Apart from the specific tours you mention which are done in English, are they snobby about English speakers in general?

bamboozle

Bateman wrote: »

Apart from the specific tours you mention which are done in English, are they snobby about English speakers in general?

well i'm a bit biased as i love all things French and reckon they only snobbery you get like this may be in Paris.

Around St. E. most people can speak some English, i can speak some french so there's always a middle ground. I did find however that very few menu's were available in english...but that's a good excuse to improve you vocab...

easiest way to side step this is with 'vous parlez anglais?' once you make a half assed attempt you'd be fine.



A lot of the wine folk i met in St.E. had worked in vineyards in Oz, Nz, SA, Calafornia so had good english.

Slaphead07

Bateman wrote: »

Apart from the specific tours you mention which are done in English, are they snobby about English speakers in general?

My contact in St Emilion is originally from Cork so his English isn't too bad

obried26

My contact in St Emilion is originally from Cork so his English isn't too bad

I'm from Donegal, so Sunday in St. E with your contact should be interesting....

In San Sebastian at the moment, the local pinxtos and wine are fantastic and seriously cheap.