St Julien
From the 8th century there are traces of a Saint Julien de Rintrac, perhaps the original name of Saint-Julien. But it was not until the pioneers of the 17th century that local and Bordeaux bourgeois and aristocrats discovered the exceptional merits of these terroirs and purchased large units of vines.
This spirit still exists today in the land structure of the appellation: alongside the two villages of Beychevelle and Saint-Julien, the large estate is largely predominant, accounting for more than four-fifths of the vineyard area.
It is practically homogeneous throughout the municipality. Only the greater or lesser proximity of the river can cause some climatic variations. The Saint-Julien-Beychevelle gravel layer takes the form of a large rectangle almost 5 km long and 3.5 km wide. The alluvial layer is particularly well dissected into ridges of Garonne gravel from the early Quaternary. Thus, the vine remains protected from stagnant water.