Marion Merker, responsable de l’œnotourisme au château de La Dauphine. Marion Merker oversees wine tourism at Château de La Dauphine. combination in the Bordeaux region. And the château’s Green Tour won the Best of Wine Tourism gold award in 2018. Those among the 4,000 annual visitors (mostly from English- speaking countries) who choose this option are given a guided tour through the vineyards, cellars, château, aroma garden, permaculture vegetable garden, biodynamic workshop, apiary Eco wine tour Biotope, biodynamics, permaculture: welcome to and outdoor tasting area—a kind of giant cocoon overlooking the new art of winemaking at Domaine de La Dauphine in Fronsac. the Garonne Valley on the horizon; a great spot from which to ponder the future of the planet. “Biodynamic workshop”: under the wooden sign on the south- The aim is not only to explain how the château makes wine facing covered area in the courtyard of this handsome 18th-cen- but also to demonstrate just how environment-friendly its tury château, the equipment and utensils required for biodynamic approach is. “For example, we have hives, but they’re not just winemaking are on display. It’s a good setup for learning more for honey. It’s also because bees play a crucial role in biodiver- about what it’s all about. “Organic farming is now familiar to sity, so we’re contributing to the biotope,” says Merker. people, and it’s easy enough to explain to visitors how to produce A handful of other estates, including Climens and Guiraud an organic wine, but biodynamics is more complex and difficult (Sauternes), Chantegrive (Graves) and Vilatte (Nord-Libournais), to grasp,” explains Marion Merker, who runs the wine tours have followed suit and now offer eco-tours in Bordeaux. at La Dauphine. “That’s why we created this stage of the tour.” No doubt their numbers will grow in the years to come. This magnificent estate in the heart of Fronsac (near Libourne), acquired by entrepreneur Jean-Claude Labrune (Cegedim,Le Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux propose medical software) from the Halley family, has been certified des idées d’escapades œnotouristiques sur www.bordeaux.com organic since 2015, while using biodynamics on an experimen- The Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux suggests tal basis (with advisor David Pernet, of Sovivins), a rather rare a number of wine routes to explore: www.bordeaux.com L’ABUS D’ALCOOL EST DANGEREUX POUR LA SANTÉ. À CONSOMMER AVEC MODÉRATION. DRINK IN MODERATION. ALCOHOL ABUSE IS HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH. 253