Périgord/Dordogne Valley – Day 4 – Vineyards and Charming Towns
Thursday, 22-May-2025
Tags: Travel
Today, our goal was to get a feel for the Bergerac area. This meant two things, wine and medieval villages. So our first stop was the medieval village of Issigeac.
From the dordogne-life website: Issigeac is a pretty medieval town in the south of the Dordogne, situated on the border with the department of the Lot-et-Garonne. Although it is primarily known for dating back to the Middle Ages, it actually dates back to Roman times. Unlike a lot of medieval towns in the south of the department, Issigeac is not a bastide town with a grid layout of intersecting streets and a central market square. The old town is unique in that it is round with plenty of winding streets and narrow passageways all enveloped by a circular road, probably due to its Roman camp origins.
One of the interesting features of the village are the 13th century half-timbered buildings (colombage) – houses with stone and wood combination.
The House of Heads (Maison des Têtes) dates back to the 16th century and has a series of carved wooden heads by each window on the third story (look at the three figures just under the window). The ‘grotesque’ style reflected facade decorations of houses at the time.
The House of Tithes is a 17th century building. It has an imposing frame and roof but only the first floor is medieval with its Gothic arched opening. It is now a restaurant.
From Issigeac, we drove to Château de la Jaubertie, one of the vineyards mentioned in the Bruno books. We also had one of their wines at our dinner at La Tour des Vents. We tasted three wines, two reds and a white, and bought a white.
From Jaubertie, we drove to the town of Eymet, a Bastide-style medieval town. “Bastides” were “new fortified towns” built during the Middle Ages, established by the kings of France and England, between 1150 and 1350 in the southwest of France. Bastides all have in common their checkerboard layout where streets, alleyways and even passageways are arranged around a central square. They were designed to group populations from the surrounding countryside together for economic, defensive, and political reasons. It was one of the few bastides to have a fortified castle and, today, the walls and a splendid keep still stand erect.
We walked around the town, stopping at the castle (there was an art exhibit in the building). We walked to the square where it looked like they were setting up for a market. We walked over to a park and had our lunch at a picnic table in the park, and then drove back to La Tour des Vents to relax for a while.
Around 3 pm, we drove up to Château Tiregand, in the Pécharmant AOC. The best red wines of Bergerac are from this region, featuring full-bodied red wines made from a blend of Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. Tiregand wines were one of the favorite vineyards in the Bruno books. We tasted 4 reds and bought one.
Here are pictures from the field behind the restaurant and our little domain. The first is the building where our room was, the second the restaurant and office, and the last a shot looking down the valley.
Around 7 pm, we drove to the nearby town of Pomport, only about 6 minutes away. Eileen found a restaurant online, Le Bistrot du Clocher, a locals place and very good. Eileen had mussels and Larry had pork. We had an appetizer of duck pate and pickles. We then walked around Pomport for a little while taking pictures. The plaque says, "In gratefulness to Amelie and Louis Delbos as well as to the inhabitants of Pomport for their unfailing humanity. Roland Levy, Jewish child hidden in Pomport from 1942 to 1945, who thus escaped Nazi barbarism."
Our drive on Day 4.
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Larry and Eileen Samberg
