St-Emilion

St Emilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc  but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market restricted exports to mainland Europe and the region never originally enjoyed the commercial success which funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank. 

St Emilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated.  However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel.  

Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol.  Atypically for St Emilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.  

In recent years there has been an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the "garagistes", producers of deeply concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices.  The appellation is also surrounded by four "satellite" appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.

St Emilion was first officially classified in 1954 and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended.  The most recent revision of the classification was in 20