Saint Emilion AOC

Here as elsewhere, the history of the vineyard is closely linked to the rise of Christianity. Although the Romans planted vines in 56 CE, it was the monks who developed wine-growing in the region from the 5th century. This carried on for a long time... By the 11th century, Benedictine monks were hard at work in Saint-Émilion, which lies on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. And its success was sealed. Centuries later, Louis XIV himself described wines made in the area as “the nectar of the gods”. Prosperous years were to follow, thanks to a whole generation of owners using new viticulture methods developed to make the most of a terroir rich in different soils (clay, limestone, sandy, etc.) and three main grape varieties (Merlot, Cabernet-Franc and Cabernet-Sauvignon). Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to fight the phylloxera epidemic which tore through the wine region in the middle of the 19th century. Once the crisis was over, wine-growers structured their industry. The first winegrowers’ union in France was founded in Saint-Émilion in 1884. In 1936, the Saint-Émilion AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée – controlled designation of origin) was created, followed 12 years later by the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru AOC. In 1955, the first classification of wines appeared, making a distinction between Grands Crus Classés and Premiers Grands Crus Classés…