Cubzac-les-Ponts (France)

Cubzac-les-Ponts, often referred to just as Cubzac, is a commune of Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, region in southwestern France. Situated 20 km (12.4 miles) southwest of Bordeaux, it's a crossing point of Dordogne river. Cubzac-les-Ponts has 3 bridges, one of which designed by Gustave Eiffel. Cubzac has a total area of 8.9 km2 (3.4 ml2) and a population of 1,930 people (2008 census).

During the Middle Ages, Cubzac-les-Ponts served as a watchtower via Four Sons of Amon castle. Historically, different means of crossing Cubzac's river have  been used, from horse-powered ferries and pontoon bridges to concrete and steel bridges. Part of a lively wine region, Cubzac features a few wine castles, including Terrefort castle. Cubzac-les-Ponts has developed a sparkling wine of its own, in what is now Café de Paris. Cubzac's limestone quarries supplied for the specific white constructions in Bordeaux and its region. Two Monuments Historiques are found in the commune: the first one is a painting in a church, and the other is the ruins of Four Sons of Amon castle.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Cubzac's mound was slashed all around in order to provide stone for the construction of Bordeaux and ballast of some river banks, thus creating very deep excavations in the limestone. Andre Cousteau, who was uncle of the ecologist and researcher Jacques Cousteau, started using the caves in 1898 to make sparkling wine based on typical Champagne-making techniques. The wine, which was treated in a closed tank, then bottled and kept neck down for months at constant temperature, eventually became bubbly and had the impurities accumulate close to the cap. Once this was removed, bottles were resealed by force, corks were muzzled. Cousteau property was sold to Société Anonyme Gay-Mousse in 1920. In 1966, the caves where assigned to Monsieur Lateyron who, a year later, created Café de Paris.