Vineyard Region: Lot Valley
Appellations:
Cahors
Marcillac
Entraygues
Estaing
Lodging: B&B in the vineyards outside Cahors
Wines from the Cahors AOC are made from the côt, or malbec grape, sometimes with a bit
of merlot and tannat blended in. It’s a powerful red wine, vinified for maximum alcohol in
centuries past, when it was known as the Black Wine of the Popes. Today’s Cahors is more
approachable in style but retains its traditional richness.
Upstream, Marcillac is the smallest AOC in France, with aromatic red wines. Entraygues
and Estaing produce pleasant whites.
Your lodging is at La Bergerie, a family-run establishment in the vineyards just outside the
medieval town Cahors.
The "Black Wine" of Cahors
Vineyards of the Lot Valley
Itinerary
Day One
- Arrival by car or train. (Car rentals are available at the
Cahors train station.) We provide you with a
detailed map to the Bed & Breakfast.
- Meet your hosts and settle in.
- Traditional table d’hôte dinner accompanied by local wines.
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Day Two
- Traditional home-made breakfast.
- Your guide, a local winemaker, accompanies you for a drive along the steep-sided valley, covered in
vineyards. At Domaine de Lagrézette, on the high plateau overlooking the river, you’ll taste blends from
several grapes. Then down to the valley floor for a stop at Chateau Eugénie, and a final tasting this morning
at the spectacular Chateau de Mercuès.
- Lunch in the medieval town of Cahors.
- Visit the beautiful village of St. Cirq Lapopie, a maze of unspoiled medieval houses, churches and chapels
clinging to the cliffs overlooking the river Lot.
- More vineyards in the Vire Valley. Also extraordinary paintings in the prehistoric caves of Pech Merle.
- Dinner back at the B&B.
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Day Three
- Traditional home-made breakfast.
- Upstream, uphill and eastward into the Massif Central for a visit to one of the strangest and least expected
vineyards in France: Marcillac. The main grape is the mansois, also called fer servadou, which gives powerful
reds with strong black currant and blackberry overtones.
- Lunch at a wayside auberge.
- Continue up the valley to Entraygues and Estaing, where we find light wines based on chenin blanc and mauzac,
grown on vines that cling to the steep hillsides. Surprisingly, this upper part of the Lot Valley has a climate
influenced by the Mediterranean, nearly 200 miles to the south!
- Dinner back at the B&B.
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Day Four
- Final home-cooked breakfast at the farm.
- Departure.
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Included in the program:
- Three nights double accommodation in a chambres d’hôtes (Bed & Breakfast)
- Three breakfasts at the chambres d’hôtes
- Two restaurant lunches (appetizer, main course, regional wine, water, coffee)
- Three farmhouse dinners (appetizer, main course, regional wine, water, coffee)
- An English-speaking host on days two and three
- Tasting & entrance fees for activities described in the itinerary
OPTIONS: This program is also available with a full-time, English-speaking driver-guide. Services
begin with pickup at the train station in Cahors (or the regional airport in Rodez) on the afternoon of
Day One and end with return transfer on the morning of Day Four. Please inquire for price.
We would be happy to assist you with a low-cost rental.
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Wine Holidays 
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