Ok wine lovers. We're thinking of doing a day trip from Sarlat and would love to tour a vineyard in this legendary region. Would love your best recommendations. Thank you!
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6486 posts
I am going to be in Bordeaux and including St. Emilion this fall.
For the areas closer around Bordeaux (Blaye, Medoc, etc.) I picked smaller, family owned wineries. I contacted the Bordeaux TI and they mailed LOTS of information which I used to select 3 wineries. From Sarlat, I think that area is at least 2 hours.
I also am touring a smaller family owned winery in St. Emilion which off the top of my head is about 1.5 hours from Sarlat. For St. Emilion the TI has a great website. It is my understanding that you can arrive at the St. Emilion TI and select from 3 or 4 wineries available that day and they will book you for a tour.
I did some searching on the web to select my St. Emilion winery and made an appointment. I believe the website most helpful was called "Lost in Bordeaux". I also perused Trip Advisor a bit.
Incidentally, I expected the Bordeaux wineries to be a little snooty/posh. In my actual experience in setting up appointments, they've been quite approachable and friendly. We've been watching Youtube videos to get ready for our trip. We watched an excellent one that explained the wine history and production in Bordeaux. It was excellent. I wish I could remember the name, but it came up pretty soon on my Youtube search. It is by a man/small company that I think has done one for each of the France wine areas.