The Bages plateau, which lies between the towns of Pauillac, to the north, and St-Julien-Beychevelle, to the south, is named for the family that owned this land in the 16th Century. The exact details are scant, as it seems there are no original documents pertaining to this great estate, only historical references published much later, in the 18th Century. Nevertheless the influence of the Bages family is still very tenable today; just a short walk through the vineyards to the south of Pauillac is the village of Bages itself, situated on a gravelly rise which, although not of great altitude, in this coastal landscape of gently rolling gravel mounds it affords as good a view over the Gironde as you are likely to find. Closely dotted around there are numerous chateaux and vineyards that clearly declare this rare vantage point as their home Haut-Bages-Libéral, Cordeillan-Bages, Haut-Bages-Averous and, of course, Croizet-Bages
