Château Le Grand Verdus

Seminars, team-building days, wine workshops and company cocktails for up to 70 guests are organised at Château Le Grand Verdus, a family wine estate in Sadirac, in the Entre-deux-Mers, about 20 minutes by road from Bordeaux. The meeting room takes 60 in theatre layout, 40 for a seated meal and 70 standing, and the estate adds a Renaissance courtyard, a panoramic terrace and 60 hectares of vines and woodland.

Seminars and company events

A seminar day starts with hot drinks and pastries on arrival, and the room comes with a video projector, a conference speaker and a paperboard. The estate builds programmes around its wine: a guided cellar visit and tasting, blending workshops, barrel tastings, a wine quiz and food and wine pairing sessions. Other activities, run with trusted partners, include Olympics, an escape game, a treasure hunt, sidecar or 2CV rides, a sushi and wine workshop and a cruise on the Garonne. Two marked nature trails, of 30 minutes and one hour, can be walked alone or with a guide. The list is open, and activities can be built to order.

Rooms and capacities

The meeting room covers 80 m² of parquet, can be divided into two, and opens through two large glass bays. It has its own kitchen and toilets. Capacities are 25 around a meeting table, 20 in a U, 60 in theatre layout, 40 for a seated meal and 70 for a standing cocktail. A 60 m² panoramic terrace gives a 180-degree view over the estate. The 500 m² Renaissance courtyard can take a marquee, flooring or a covered structure for a larger event. In summer, from June to August, La Guinguette, a wooden bar with pallet tables, benches and standing areas, can be privatised during the day.

Catering

The estate offers a country picnic, a lunch cocktail or tray meals. On request it can arrange a country buffet, a brazier barbecue or a lunch designed for the group. Tastings range from a three-wine discovery to separate white and red flights, and can follow a seminar session or close the day.

History and setting

The Le Grix de la Salle family has run the estate since 1846. The main house, a 16th-century manor in Renaissance style, sits at the top of a hill above vineyards that fall about 80 metres. The family farms more than 50 parcels, most of them worked separately, and the estate is certified organic. Its range runs from everyday cuvées to single-parcel and sparkling wines. Woods, meadows and vines make up the 60 hectares, which the nature trails cross.

Getting there

Sadirac lies south-east of Bordeaux, in the hills between the Garonne and the Dordogne. Bordeaux Saint-Jean station and Bordeaux-Mérignac airport are the nearest hubs, and the drive from the city centre takes about 20 minutes, which makes a day seminar easy to run from Bordeaux.