We will be driving from Bordeaux to Sarlat on Monday 17th September, and we'd like to stop off in St. Emillion for a few hours. We'd be interesting in visiting a couple of vineyards in the area. Does anyone have any good recommendations? Thanks.

Hi C,

With only a few hours in St. Emilion, I would see the town and not bother with vineyards.

Since you will be in Bordeaux, why not visit one of the great chateaux there?

Thanks ira - yes, we will be visiting one of the chateaux in Bordeaux.

Hi C,

>Yes, we will be visiting one of the chateaux in Bordeaux.<

Good.

Now that you have taken care of that, you can concentrate on drinking wine instead of how it is made.

Enjoy your visit.


PS. If you are anywhere near Monbazillac, stop off at the chateau and buy some wine. Nearly as good a Chateau d'Yquem at much lower prices.

Thanks - I won't actually be drinking so much as spitting it back out as I'm pregnant - such a shame but I plan to fit as many bottles into the car as I can to enjoy once the baby arrives! Must see if we can fit in a trip to Monbazillac.

If you drive down the Southerly river from Bordeaux on the nothern bank you pass prem cotes de bordeaux and loads of sweet wines as Ira says all the great names Loupiac, Caddilac etc. In each will be a wine tasting facility for the local commune, not a bad way to go South. Like Ira I would spend more time in St Emillion as one of only two Unesco World Heritage sites based on wine (Tockaj is other)

We stayed in St. Emillion two nights in July but drove to Bordeaux to visit some friends one day. The drive is fairly easy as long as you don't leave Bordeaux during rush hour either in the morning or evening. St. Emillion is an interesting village, very picturesque with many wine shops with free wine tastings and caves. I would spend my two hours there as opposed to stopping at vineyards along the way.

We did the reverse of your trip having stayed in Sarlat first and then on to St. Emillion. You will love Sarlat.

Yes St Emilion to me was dreamy - rather diminuitive town literally sitting in a swirl of vineyards.

Thank you all - spending the time in the town itself (including a trip to some of the wine shops!) sounds ideal.

IRA:

Monbazillac..nearly as good as Yquem at much lower prices??? REALLY? Now you are the expert on sweet whites!!? Have you ever even tasted a Yquem?

Please permit my jumping in here with a question:

Bordeaux is one of the ports on our up-coming cruise. I'm trying to decide whether to sign up for the excursion which includes a stop at a vineyard along with a tour/explore of St Emillion, or just the one that tours St Emillion. Perhaps it would depend on exactly which vineyard is on the tour? Are there some that are more interesting than others? I'm less interested in buying or even tasting wine than I am in seeing lovely scenery and getting a "feel" for towns and countryside. I think that with just the St Emillion excursion there'll be maybe 3 hrs in the town. If we do the combined, probably more like 2 hours in the town. Trying to decide which to choose. Thanks for help.

If you are not interested in the making and tasting of wine, I would not recommend a visit to a vineyard. The scenery around the town is lovely and you will likely see it as you enter and leave the town. I have visited several vineyards in the vicinity and they were all different, but then, we were there to taste the wines which is not something you seem to be keen to do on this trip. Have fun!

poss - IMO take the tour that gives you 2 hrs in town and 1 hr touring a vineyard and production areas - even if you don't drink a drop this could be the highlight of your trip

And St Emilion is small so 2 hours is enough to savour it IMO

Dear ek,

Have you ever tasted a Chateau Monbazillac?

Hi poss,

How interested are you in learning how wines are made, and in tasting top flight wines?

I wouldn't sign up for a vineyard tour unless it was one of the Premier Crus Classés (First Growths).

You can always taste wine in St. Emilion.

Yes, Ira, if I had not I would not have made the comment above. I have tasted many examples of both of these wines..I brought home 6 bottles of Monbazillac from a trip last year..4 of them are still sitting in my kitchen rack! Wish I had some Yquem!