Pech Merle Winery

First, we talked about building a winery and creating savory and elegant wines.  We dreamed and debated about the varietals we’d produce, made lists of winery names. Talked about architecture and the tasting experience and visualized that the winery would be tucked into the earth… in a cave.

Then, in a single visit to France in 2007, all our ideas came together in one memorable afternoon.  There, in the Lot River Valley, we stepped into one of the region’s celebrated pre-historic caves…called “Pech Merle.”

In colloquial French, Pech Merle translates into “under the hill.” Cool, simple, unique and exotic.  Voila! We had a name to go with the dream.  Exhilarated, we returned to look in earnest for a special place to build our “under the hill” winery we would call Pech Merle.