Gironde: Raisin D'être

From rolling vineyards famed for producing world-class wines to Atlantic beaches, lagoons, historic villages and a cosmopolitan capital, Gironde is a diverse department with something for all, says Caroline Bishop.

- Caroline Bishop

There’s a 16th-century windmill on a hill on the outskirts of a small village deep in EntreDeux-Mers, the triangle of wine country between the Garonne and Dordogne rivers. To sit on one of the millstones and look out over the valley below is to see into the heart of Gironde. Vineyards sweep through undulating fields in neat rows; hawks and the occasional hoopoe sit on telegraph poles; and the ochre roofs of farmhouses are clustered in hamlets that can be seen over the low hills in the distance.

This is the Gironde that many foreigners flock to experience: a rural idyll in south-west France, carpeted with carefully tended vines and dotted with restored châteaux and medieval bastide towns, their central squares hosting weekly markets that fill the air with the smell of sizzling poulet rôti and the chatter of locals.

WINE COUNTRY

The weather and its effect on the vines is likely to be a major topic of conversation. Are the grapes developing too slowly after a late spring? Will the harvest be completed before an autumn hailstorm threatens to decimate the vines? Has there been enough sun, or too little rain? It’s no wonder, because this is the largest wine producing area in France and arguably the most famous and prestigious in the world. These things matter.