Hostellerie de Plaisance

The Hotel

Hostellerie de Plaisance occupies two restored 18th-century maisons on Place du Clocher in central Saint-Émilion — the UNESCO World Heritage Right Bank wine village 50 kilometres east of Bordeaux that has been continuously cultivated for wine since the Roman period and that gives its name to the Saint-Émilion AOC and Saint-Émilion Grand Cru classifications. The property has operated as a hotel-restaurant since 1928 and was acquired in 1999 by Gérard Perse — the Bordeaux wine entrepreneur who owns Château Pavie (Saint-Émilion premier grand cru classé A) and Château Pavie-Decesse — as the Relais & Châteaux companion to his vineyard portfolio. The architectural commission for the restoration was Bordeaux practice ASA Architecture; Perse and his daughter Angélique completed the comprehensive 2018-2020 expansion that added the contemporary villa wing on the eastern side and reopened the property on 1 March 2020 with the current 21-room inventory.

The 21 rooms — including 6 named suites — divide between the two original 18th-century maisons (15 Heritage rooms across the main building and the Maison Plaisance with restored period stuccoed ceilings) and the contemporary 2020 villa wing (6 rooms with private terraces overlooking the Saint-Émilion vineyard amphitheatre). Standard categories at 30 sqm; the Pavie Suite at 80 sqm in the original main building is the milestone unit, with the original 18th-c frescoed ceiling and a private balcony directly overlooking Place du Clocher. Bathrooms are travertine; bath products are Cinq Mondes.

La Table de Plaisance — the named principal restaurant — is run by chef Ronan Kervarrec under the direction of Perse's daughter Angélique. The kitchen has held one Michelin star continuously since 2002 and runs an ambitious contemporary French register paired against an 8,500-bottle Saint-Émilion-and-classed-growth wine cellar that includes deep verticals on Pavie, Cheval Blanc, Ausone and Angélus. Le Café Saigon handles the all-day brasserie programme on the central courtyard. La Cave is the dedicated tasting room programme — guests can book private vertical tastings of the Perse-property Pavie wines, with the head sommelier or Gérard Perse himself for milestone bookings. The Spa de Plaisance runs three treatment rooms with the indoor 12-metre heated pool. The fitness centre is on the lower-ground level.

The Saint-Émilion position is unambiguous. From the front door it is 30 seconds to Place du Clocher and the 12th-century monolithic church (the largest underground church in Europe — carved from a single block of limestone), four minutes to the Saint-Émilion Cloister and the Tour du Roi, and 50 minutes by car to central Bordeaux or Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport. The walking circuit of the UNESCO village proper takes two hours; the property's wine-cellar tour programme (the Saint-Émilion underground tunnels run for 70 km beneath the village) is the half-day in-house cultural programme. For travellers wanting the unambiguous Saint-Émilion booking — particularly for Bordeaux-wine-country circuits combining Saint-Émilion with Médoc and Sauternes — Hostellerie de Plaisance is the answer.

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