A five-star Bordeaux vineyard hotel in Martillac, Pessac-Léognan

Martillac, a Graves village south of Bordeaux

Martillac lies in the Gironde, within the urban area of Bordeaux, between Cadaujac, Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans, La Brède and Léognan. It counted 3,659 inhabitants in 2023, and two classified growths of Graves, Château Latour-Martillac and Château Smith Haut Lafitte, stand within the commune. The Romanesque church of Sainte-Quitterie was built around the 11th century, and its apse was listed as a historic monument in 1925. The philosopher Montesquieu's wife, Jeanne de Lartigue, owned her family lands here.

For a visitor, Martillac works less as a village to explore than as a base among the vines. Les Sources de Caudalie stands about 200 metres from the château whose tower marks the estate, so cellars, tastings and vineyard paths begin at the hotel door.

Pessac-Léognan: the appellation around the hotel

Pessac-Léognan is the northern part of the Graves, on the left bank of the Garonne immediately south of Bordeaux; some of its northern vineyards are now surrounded by the city's housing estates. Unlike most Bordeaux appellations, it is known for both red and dry white wines, grown on very gravelly soil: reds led by Cabernet Sauvignon, with a somewhat greater share of Merlot than in the Médoc, and whites from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.

The history is long. These vineyards supplied the claret loved by the English while Aquitaine was under English rule, from 1152 to 1453, and Château Pape Clément in Pessac was founded by Pope Clement V in 1306. The appellation itself was created in 1987, under its founding president André Lurton, and the growers' union says it now covers more than 1,800 hectares. It includes Château Haut-Brion, the only red wine from outside the Haut-Médoc in the 1855 Classification, and all 14 classified growths of Graves, two of them in Martillac. For the public, the union has held Open Doors weekends in December and June for more than 25 years.

Château Smith Haut Lafitte, the estate next door

The estate's recorded history starts in the 14th century, when Verrier Du Bosq signed the first deeds for a few rows of vines. George Smith, a Scottish wine merchant, bought it in the mid-18th century and named it after himself; Lodi Martin Duffour-Dubergier, mayor of Bordeaux, acquired it in 1842, and the Eschenauer firm in 1958. In 1990 Daniel and Florence Cathiard took over. Alice Tourbier-Cathiard and her husband Jérôme run the hotel, while Mathilde Thomas-Cathiard and her husband Bertrand founded the Caudalie skincare company.

The vineyard covers 80 hectares in a single block of Günz gravel and has been certified organic since 2019. A gravity-flow vat room has worked since 2013, and almost all the barrels have been made on site since a master cooper was hired in 1993. Guided tours run every day by appointment for small groups of 10, through the 16th-century tower, the underground cellars where 1,000 barrels rest and the cooperage, ending with a tasting of the first and second wines. Beside the vines, the Forest of the Senses, a 10-hectare land-art trail with tree houses and sculptures, opens from May to October.

Les Sources de Caudalie, a Palace among the vines

Les Sources de Caudalie opened in 1999 as Alice and Jérôme Tourbier's first hotel, in the family vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte. The Atout France register lists 62 rooms and a five-star classification dated 3 May 2024, and the hotel is on the official Palace list updated on 2 June 2026, one of two Palaces in the south-west with Les Prés d'Eugénie; our guide to Palace hotels in France explains the distinction.

The rooms and suites are spread across six houses designed as regional variations, from La Bastide des Grands Crus to L'Ile aux Oiseaux, and each room has its own name. Families can rent the Au Coeur des Sources apartment, for up to six people, and 1.5 km away La Chartreuse du Château le Thil adds nine rooms and two suites.

La Grand'Vigne holds two MICHELIN stars (as of 2026): chef Nicolas Masse cooks beneath a glass canopy inspired by 18th-century greenhouses, with produce from Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the organic garden. La Table du Lavoir is the country inn, built around a washhouse rebuilt stone by stone under 18th-century timber salvaged from the cellars of Lafite Rothschild; ROUGE is a wine bar and gourmet grocery, and French Paradox the cocktail bar.

The hotel calls its spa the world's first Vinothérapie Spa: Caudalie treatments, and baths of water drawn from a hot spring 540 metres down, with access through a treatment booking from the age of 16. Guests also have a glasshouse pool open all year, a heated outdoor pool in season, a sauna, a gym and a tennis court. The hotel has held the European Ecolabel since 2023.

Bordeaux, Saint-Émilion and the Atlantic

Bordeaux is about 20 km away. Its historic centre, the Port of the Moon, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2007 as an urban and architectural ensemble of the Age of Enlightenment, with more protected buildings than any other French city except Paris. The hotel's short list of sights starts with La Cité du Vin, the wine museum opened in June 2016, then Place de la Bourse and its Miroir d'Eau, and Saint-André Cathedral, where Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII.

Saint-Émilion, whose wine-growing landscape UNESCO inscribed in 1999, lies about 45 km away. About 60 km west, the Arcachon Bay adds oyster parks, beaches and the Dune du Pilat; our guide to Arcachon covers the resort. Closer by, the moated Château de La Brède, begun in 1306, is where Montesquieu was born and wrote most of his works. Further south, the A63 takes about 1 hour 50 minutes from Bordeaux to Anglet, next to Biarritz in the French Basque Country, so a south-west trip can pair Pessac-Léognan with the Atlantic coast.

Getting to Martillac by air, rail and road

Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport is about 20 minutes away by car. TGVs from Paris Montparnasse run on the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique, in service since July 2017, and reach Bordeaux in about two hours; Bordeaux Saint-Jean station is about 20 minutes from the hotel by car, and the TER station of Cadaujac less than 10.

Plan the last leg: the hotel's FAQ says it is not accessible by public transport, and its team can book a taxi or arrange a paid transfer. Parking is free, with four electric charging points and a 24-hour valet service, and there is a heliport on site.

When to visit the Pessac-Léognan vineyards

The hotel's own advice is that every season works: spring and summer show the vineyards in leaf, the harvest makes autumn particularly spectacular, and the quieter winter suits private visits and tastings. The appellation's Open Doors weekends fall in December and June, and the Forest of the Senses opens from May to October.

Book La Grand'Vigne before arrival: it serves dinner from Wednesday to Sunday and lunch only at weekends, so a Monday or Tuesday night stay misses it. On some Saturdays, the head sommelier, Aurélien Farrouil, leads a 90-minute introduction to oenology in the hotel's Tasting Tower, reserved for hotel guests.