Regions of France

he vast region of ‘New’ Aquitaine actually incorporates the three former regions of Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou- Charentes encompassing a large proportion of the west coast of France extending from Poitiers in the north all the way to the Basque city of Pau in the foothills of the Pyrenees in the south. The growth of its population, particularly marked on the coast, makes it one of the most attractive areas of French territory: the new region is thus ahead of Île-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in terms of demographic dynamism. Bordeaux -The City of Wine The capital of the region is Bordeaux, the ‘Pearl of Aquitaine’. Lying just to the south of the Gironde Estuary on the Garonne River, it is one of the world’s finest wine and gastronomy cities benefitting from the extraordinary proliferation of wine growing estates and the immense agricultural importance of the region. With over 350 historic monuments, Bordeaux has also benefitted from a relatively destruction free history resulting in a handsome and well preserved city centre with a architectural and cultural heritage including more than 350 historic monuments, making it, after Paris, the city with the most listed or registered monuments in France. T The Bordeaux wine growing area has about 116,160 hectares (287,000 acres) of vineyards, 57 appellations, 10,000 wine-producing estates (châteaux) and 13,000 grape growers. With an annual production of approximately 960 million bottles, the Bordeaux area produces large quantities of everyday wine as well as some of the most expensive wines in the world. Included among the latter are the area's five premier cru (First Growth) red wines (four fromMédoc and one, Château Haut-Brion, from Graves), established by the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. Bordeaux Fine wines BORDEAUX La Rochelle Saint Martin-de-Re Poitiers Angouleme Limoges Perigeux Agen Bergerac Biarritz Arcachon Pau Q Q Q 5