The countryside features heavily in chateaux-life, and Chateau de Mercues is no exception. For seven centuries the counts and bishops of Cahors, the oldest wine region in France, used the Chateau as their summer residence. It is perhaps no surprise that there is an enormous underground cellar stacked with oak barrels of wine. Today, apartments and rooms that mix modern and medieval style look out across vineyards, with tempting wine as a central theme of any stay.