Château Franc Mayne

The road that runs out of the back of St Emilion towards Libourne is, for me, a road well-travelled. After all, if you take a right just before Château Figeac you soon find yourself, just two minutes later, hurtling along among the vineyards of Pomerol. On a busy day, with a jumbled-up schedule of appointments in both appellations (no matter how hard I try, I have never yet managed to have a pure ‘Pomerol day’ or an solely ‘St Emilion day’), I might find myself flying along this little road half a dozen times.

In doing so I have noticed it is perhaps too easy to overlook those domaines that lie along this road as mere markers on this brief journey, rather than destinations in themselves, To do so, however, would be a mistake. This is, after all, the cradle of viticulture and winemaking in St Emilion; vines have been planted here for centuries, perhaps even millennia. One such estate that springs to mind is Château Franc Mayne. The château, which dates to the 16th century, was initially a staging post conveniently situated on this road, which formed part of the pilgrimage route down to Saint-Jacques de Compostelle.

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