Wine-growing has been practised in this part of Bordeaux since the 3rd century, and it certainly has the longest tradition in the entire wine-producing region. Roman legionnaires were the first to plant vines after clearing the areas around Pomerol and Saint-Emilion. Not far from the town, the poet Ausonius cultivated his own vines and was the first to write about the wine-growing of the region. In the 8th century, the Breton hermit Emilion, who later gave his name to the town, settled in a cave nearby. His spiritual influence attracted many believers who, in the centuries following his death, excavated the rock and transformed the cave into a monolithic church.
At the end of the 12th century, the English king Jean sans Terre, son of Henry II and brother of Richard Cœur de Lion, elevated Saint-Emilion to the rank of a town and founded a body to control its vineyards, whose role was to mark barrels of good wine with the « marque du vinetier ». Wine that did not bear this seal had to be destroyed...