Straw wine or Vin Paille was introduced in the South Limousin by the Romans in the third century. Straw wine or Passum as it was known in Latin was much used in Roman recipes. This wine like all wine produced at the time was difficult to transport from the region and it was not until the Galls invented the barrel to replace the fragile Roman amphora that it became more widely known. With the coming of Christianity production of Straw wine was accomplished by priests and monks. This practise continued throughout the 9th and 10th Century. By the 11th Century however, the nobility and the middle class began to realise the benefits of commercialising the production of wine.
In the year 1789, vineyards of the Correze counted 10,826 Hectares, by 1875 17,000 Hectares were in cultivation. Sadly, the curse of the phylloxera beetle saw the end of many of great grapes disappeared.
The researches of the historian Gilles Quincy brought a document of 1821 to light. This document signed by Planchard of Greze gave a clear insight into the making of the Straw Wine of the period. On the door of the old school in Beaulieu sur Dordogne may be seen an escutcheon dated 1715. On it is written in Greek and Latin: " You seek the Honey of the Muses ? Stop here and drink. I would give you in abundance a nectar softer than all honeies ".

     

Once upon a time in the year of 622 AD, Saint Eloi journeyed to Rocamadour. The weather was hot, and the road was rought and he stopped to rest in the little river harbour of Vellinus (named Beaulieu sur Dordogne today).The locals rushed to greet him and brought food and drink, in particular a jar of sweet and mellow 'Vin Paille' (or Straw Wine). Saint Eloi loved the wine so much that he ordered several jars of it to take back them to Paris as a gift for Good King Dagobert. The King too enjoyed the wine and drank so much that he ended up putting his underpants over his trousers !