Villenave-d'Ornon is a municipality of the Gironde, on the left bank of the Garonne, south of Bordeaux. It belongs to Bordeaux Métropole and has around 42 000 inhabitants. The river borders its territory to the east, the ring road and the old Toulouse road cross it, and three historic centres shape the town: Le Bourg, around the Saint-Martin church, Chambéry and Pont-de-la-Maye.
Long rural and given over to wine growing, the municipality still holds part of its territory within the Pessac-Léognan appellation, with some twenty estates including Château Couhins, a Grand Cru Classé de Graves today owned by INRAE, the French national research institute for agriculture and the environment. From the 1960s, industry and businesses settled towards Hourcade, Courréjan and Chanteloiseau, while the town went through strong suburban growth. The arrival of the line C tram, as far as the Villenave Pyrénées terminus, brought the municipality closer to the centre of Bordeaux.
The geography of prices follows this history. The centre of Le Bourg, Chambéry and the residential districts of the north, such as Saint-Martin and Barret, are gaining value, while Sarcignan, in the north-west, and the more working-class areas remain more affordable. The Garonne, to the east, and the Pessac-Léognan vineyards, to the south, frame the market of a metropolitan municipality sought after for its setting and its transport links.
