Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion

Saint-Émilion lies 35 km east of Bordeaux in the fertile country of Aquitaine. The Romans introduced the vine, planting vineyards here as early as the 2nd century, and in the 4th century the Latin poet Ausonius praised the fruit of its vines. The town is named after Émilion, a Breton monk who lived in a hermitage carved from a rock shelter and died in 767.

Because the area lay on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, many churches, monasteries and hospices were built from the 11th century. The monolithic church, cut into a limestone cliff, probably dates from the late 11th to early 12th century; some 15,000 m3 of rock were removed, its hall is 38 m long and 20 m wide, and it was probably made to hold the body of Émilion. The limestone keep called the Tour du Roy was built in 1237.

The area's wines were already well known in the 12th and 13th centuries, but the instability of the Wars of Religion damaged the vineyards, which only began to recover in the late 19th century. Vineyards now cover more than 67 percent of the commune, and the villages mix 18th- and 19th-century châteaux with modest stone houses. The jurisdiction was inscribed in 1999.