Top Reasons to Go

La Route de Médoc: With eight appellations (districts) in this small area alone, and names like Rothschild, Latour, and Margaux on its bottles, the route will fulfill your biggest wine expectations.

Bordeaux: Eighteenth-century wine merchants endowed this city with an almost regal elegance—for proof, see their gracious mansions and the city's sublime squares.

The Rothschild legacy: Although the family's Château Lafite is often locked, oenophiles will be welcomed with open arms at Château Mouton Rothschild's visitor center and museum.

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

Bordeaux bacchanal: Wine-themed festivals—most notably the Fête du Vin extravaganza, held in Bordeaux's biggest square at the end of June—keep corks popping.