Top Reasons to Go

La Route de Médoc: With eight appellations (areas) alone in this one small area and names like Rothschild, Latour, and Margaux on the bottles, this is one itinerary that leaves no sour grapes.

Bordeaux, Wine Mecca: Flourishing around the banks of the Gironde estuary, Bordeaux's great wine shippers gave their city center a nearly royal 18th-century elegance.

Buy a Rothschild: While the family's Château Lafite is often locked, the arms are wide open to oenophiles at Château Mouton-Rothschild, thanks to its visitor center and museum.

St-Émilion, Medieval Jewel: With its 13th-century ramparts, cobblestone streets, and rock-face hermitage, this fortified hilltop town presides over one of the Bordeaux region's richest wine districts.

Bordeaux Bacchanal: Don't miss the four-day wine extravaganza at the end of June, when the appellations come to party on Bordeaux's biggest square.