I really enjoyed this visit, I spent a couple of hours aimless wandering the hilly cobbled streets in the centre of the medieval town, poking my head into the smattering of interesting buildings in the centre. Perhaps I enjoyed it so much because a few hours before-hand I had been in London; therefore making my bucolic picnic, next to the gentle trickle of a fountain seem even more relaxing.

I then headed off to explore a few of the chateau in the surrounding fields. I loved just aimlessly driving through the twisting lanes between the almost endless vineyards. Virtually the entirety of the jurisdiction is planted with vines making this one of the most intense grape growing regions in one of Frances main wine regions. St Emilion AOC is located in the wider Bordeaux wine region, and is famous for producing high quality red wines mostly based on the Merlot, Cabernet France and Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety. St Emilion AOC itself is broken down into several classifications itself, with two estates being awarded the highest accolade Premier grand cru classé A. I made it a bit of a mission to hunt out these two super vineyards. The first, Château Ausone, was pretty simple as it is right next to the town of St Emilion. I then drove on to Château Cheval Blanc knowing that the vineyards next to the road produce some of the most expensive bottles of wine in the world. The intense classification system takes into account the various complexities of wine production, especially the terroir, which can lead to vast differences in the classifications of wines on one side of a road to another.

I really loved meandering about through the estates; in fact I liked it so much I returned the next day to visit a few more. The tourist information office in the centre of town was exceptionally helpful and produced a booklet that had pretty much all the information any non specialist would want to know. It also highlighted which château had particularly fine architecture and which ones were open for tastings, when and how much the cost (ranging from free - €15)..

I really loved visiting this site, and you really can grasp how important viticulture has been in cultivating the landscape. I carried on to Bordeaux which built much of its wealth out of exporting the wines from the surrounding area, which helped to complete the story for me, as well as giving me a chance to sample several of the wines from the area.

[Site 7: Experience 7]