A day in the Entre-Deux-Mers wine region
Offering a great variety of Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée (AOCs) wines, the region of Entre-Deux-Mers is home to beautiful green vineyards lulled by the mild oceanic climate and the richness of the local medieval heritage. An invitation to contemplate... and taste!
Entre-Deux-Mers, the largest wine-growing area in the Bordeaux region.
Two ocean-influenced rivers - the Garonne, to the south, and the Dordogne, to the north - have sculpted over time the sublime terroirs of Entre-Deux-Mers. The region between-two-rivers boasts an incredible diversity of relief, exposure, and soils: sand, clay, gravel, clay-limestone soils... Extending over 7,000 hectares, the region comprises the largest group of AOC wines of Gironde (17 in total): from dry and sweet white wines (blends of Sauvignon and Semillon grapes) to reds (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon), rosés, Clairets, as well as Crémants, and a spirit: the Fine de Bordeaux. A unique ensemble of grape varieties that is reflected on the map of the Entre-Deux-Mers wine routes. Offering no less than ten itineraries, the wine routes are an excellent way to meet the winemakers and admire the fortified cities of Bordeaux’s inland region.
All the colours of Bordeaux wine
A trip in the heart of Entre-Deux-Mers lets you discover in the same day, and sometimes at the same wine estate, a wide range of Bordeaux wine colours. For example, Château Lauduc, just a few minutes from the centre of Bordeaux, offers visitors a chance to taste several AOC wines: Bordeaux White, Entre-Deux-Mers dry white, Bordeaux Rosé and Clairet, Bordeaux Red and Bordeaux Supérieur Red, Crémant de Bordeaux.
Every Saturday morning, immerse yourself in this myriad of local colours, scents, and tastes at the Cadillac market, the largest in southern Gironde. For more than eight centuries, this market been bringing together local producers around the bastide and on the ramparts.
A land of wine, art, and history
For more than a millennium, the history and cultural identity of the Entre-Deux-Mers region are inextricably linked to the vine. Farms, hamlets and fortified villages bear witness to the region’s rich medieval past. The region is home to many vestiges of the Middle Ages: houses, mills, bastides (fortified towns), Carthusian monasteries, abbeys and Romanesque churches... Take advantage of the Roger Lapébie cycle path - a 47-kilometre Greenway created in the 2000s on an old railway line between Latresne and Sauveterre-de-Guyenne - to cycle across the Entre-Deux-Mers region. An excellent way to visit the bastides of Créon and Sauveterre, as well as the Abbey of La Sauve Majeure, a masterpiece of Romanesque art built in 1079 and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Roads to Santiago de Compostela. It is around this abbey that the Benedictine monks were the first to clear the forest, the Silva Major, to plant vines and craft this wine-growing landscape that defies time.