The progressive influence of Gallo-Roman culture in the south west of France was mainly due to the presence of the Roman soldiers who, having received a parcel of land as war bounty, exchanged their each swords and spears for pickaxes and sickles. The name of the centurion Galius figures amongst one of these first farmers who, as he dug into the Saint-Emilion chalky plateau, planted the first vines in that area.