More to St. Émilion Than Wine?

St. Émilion is synonymous with wine located in the Gironde/Aquitaine region of France. And that is by no means a bad connotation to have. But when my gaggle of University of California exchange students got off our tour bus and began our afternoon excursion in St. Émilion, the first thing our tour guide told us was that there was more to this place than wine. Were we convinced? Not immediately. Did our shoulders slump when we heard the wine tasting was not taking place for two and a half hours? Immediately.

Instead of wine tasting off the bat, we took a tour of the center of the city. For those of you planning your next trip to St. Émilion, don't go in January, wait to go in the summer or autumn when it's harvesting time. St. Émilion definitely seems to be a seasonal city and January is not the season. The vines are barren and not many people are out and about. It was cold and rainy but we were able to escape the weather by exploring some of St. Émilion's catacombs and its famous monolithic church. This church was carved from a a single limestone cliff which gives it it's appearance of being underground. Masses are seldom held inside anymore because of the fragility of the limestone and also because there is another more traditional Romanesque church located above ground right next to it.

The sprawling hills of St. Émilion 

St. Émilion's monolithic church's bell tower--all that can be seen of the limestone church above ground.

After learning enough about St. Émilion's namesake, Émilion the monk who settled in the area as a hermit in the 8th century, wine tasting was calling our names. We got back on the bus and traveled to the St. Émilion Union de Producteurs where we took a tour of the wine producing factory and learned about the different machines and processes that turn grapes into wine. And while this was interesting, this still didn't involve tasting the wines and the collective mood was fast approaching sour grapes. Finally, after seeing barrels and barrels of aging wine, the moment we had been waiting four hours for was finally here. We tasted, and then purchased, some of St. Émilion's finest wines within the 20 euro price range. Although we may be in France, we are all still college students, and don't yet have down the "quality versus quantity" mantra. 

All in all, it was your quintessential French town and wine tasting excursion! And as it was my first time wine tasting, I would say that the bar has been set pretty high for the next one. 

Each barrel holds about 300 bottles worth of wine!