Cérons

say-ROHN

How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ohn” is a nasal vowel: say it through the nose, with no n. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

Sweet white from 3 communes of the Graves next to Barsac, a small appellation whose growers can make Graves on the same land, and mostly do.

The place

Cérons is 3 communes, Cérons, Illats and Podensac, on the left bank of the Garonne just downstream from Barsac, and it lies wholly inside the Graves. The soil mixes its 2 neighbors, in unequal parts: rises of leftover gravel on a base of clay and limestone, as in the Graves, over 74% of the area, and in a few places clay and limestone over starfish limestone, as in Barsac. The appellation’s rulebook credits the Garonne and the small streams that run into it with the morning fogs that cover the vines in autumn, and the noble rot needs that damp air. The delimited area covers 2,089 hectares, but only some 20 producers claim the appellation, on 30 to 80 hectares depending on the year; most of the rest of the vineyard has turned to red.

The rules

Sweet white only, from Muscadelle, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon, planted at no less than 5,000 vines a hectare. The grapes are picked by hand in successive passes, overripe, touched by noble rot or shriveled on the vine, and must carry 221 g/l of sugar. The wine must reach 14.5% of natural alcohol, be sold at 12% at least, and keep at least 45 g/l of sugar when it is bottled. Forty hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 44. It is raised until January 15 and sold from January 31 of the year after the harvest. The cahier des charges in force, the appellation’s official rulebook, was homologated on November 17, 2023.

The names

No classification. The appellation was recognized in 1936, but the wine was known long before: in 1828 the wines of Cérons were already praised for their fine sap. The same growers may make Graves, red or dry white, and Graves Supérieures on the same land, and most of the harvest now goes that way. What stays Cérons is a lighter sweet wine than Sauternes and Barsac.

Color: Sweet white
Communes: Cérons, Illats and Podensac, inside the Graves
Vineyard: 2,089 hectares delimited; some 20 producers claim 30 to 80 hectares a year
Soil: Leftover gravel on clay and limestone over 74% of the area; in a few places clay and limestone over starfish limestone
Grapes: Muscadelle, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon
Density: 5,000 vines a hectare at least
Harvest: By hand, in successive passes; overripe or botrytized grapes at 221 g/l of sugar
Yield: 40 hectoliters a hectare, ceiling 44
Alcohol: 14.5% natural at least, sold at 12% at least; 45 g/l of sugar left
Release: From January 31 of the year after the harvest
Classified: No classification
AOC since: 1936; cahier of November 17, 2023

Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges Cérons, arrêté du 17 novembre 2023 · INAO, Cérons

The stack

The same land in Cérons may also be labeled Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur, Crémant de Bordeaux, Graves and Graves Supérieures. A grower chooses which appellation to sell under, and the narrowest is almost always the dearest.

The appellations of Bordeaux are stacked, not laid side by side. The map draws the whole stack. Open the map

The pyramid of names shows what each step promises: vines a hectare, bottles, ripeness, day of sale, grapes. Climb from here

Terroir

A pebble from Podensac fills the hand: quartz or quartzite, worn round, 8 to 12 cm across. Gravel like this is the soil the town of Podensac is built on. Terraces of the ice ages cover 73.9% of the delimited area, and where the river spread them, they gouged down into the starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries).

At the edge of the river marsh (palus) the pebbles are big, set in sand. In the words of the Langon map, the vines stand “on the gravels of Cérons and on the limestone slab with red sands of Barsac”, 2 neighbors in a single line. Beneath the gravel, water draining from the old terraces passes through the fissured limestone into the young alluvium of the river.

The old pits on the outskirts of Podensac gave sand, gravel and pebbles for the foundations of roads, and were filled in afterward. The river left its stones; a town sat down on them.

1,818 ha delimited

Slope wash and cover0.5%
River and estuary deposits of today2.3%
Ice age river terraces: sand, gravel, pebbles73.9%
Landes sand and the oldest river deposits17.4%
Starfish limestone and marine marls5.9%

Shares of the delimited area, measured on BRGM’s geological map, in families by the age and rock its legend prints, youngest first.

Half its delimited soil lies above 22 m, and 9 tenths lies between 11 and 52 m. 2.3% of it is steeper than 10%.

Measured section

The line runs 8.4 km, from 33 m to 4 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 6 and 28 m.

Colors: Slope wash and coverRiver and estuary deposits of todayIce age river terraces: sand, gravel, pebblesStarfish limestone and marine marls

Measured section: one elevation every 10 meters, west to east, along the whole of a 8.4 km line set across the appellation by a fixed rule, not chosen for the view (IGN, RGE ALTI 5 m), with the geology at the surface (BRGM, BD Charm-50). Heights stretched 20 times. The layers below the surface are not drawn.

Tap the marker on the section, or open the borehole below: a core slides out, layer by layer.

1Drill here: Cérons, borehole 852-1-9, 207 m from the line

Depth	As printed	In English	Age (ICS)
0.0 to 2.3 m	Quaternaire	Quaternary	the last 2.58 million years
2.3 to 69.0 m	Oligocène	Oligocene	33.9 to 23.04 million years ago
69.0 to 333.0 m	Éocène	Eocene	56.0 to 33.9 million years ago
333.0 to 354.0 m	Crétacé	Cretaceous	older than 66.0 million years

Log printed in BRGM notice 0852, p. 25, under the heading “Cérons” (borehole BSS002AEFT in the subsurface register). The log names ages, not rocks. Marked at the point of the line nearest to it. BRGM’s subsurface register gives this borehole a depth of 329.0 m; the printed log runs to 354.0 m.Depths in meters below the surface; thin layers are drawn at a minimum height.BRGM, Notice explicative de la feuille Langon à 1/50 000, 1978.

The units, as BRGM prints them

Code	Name and age, as printed	Share
Slope wash and cover		0.5%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.5% in all
River and estuary deposits of today		2.3%
Fy3-z	Alluvions subactuelles à actuelles indiféernéciées (sic), Pré-boréal à actuel	2.3%
Ice age river terraces: sand, gravel, pebbles		73.9%
Fxb(a)	Basse terrasses - Terrasse de Bègle (type 6) indifférenciée, Saalien - "Riss"	7.6%
Fwb(G)	Moyennes terrasses (RG Garonne) - Terrasses de Léognan, terrasse de Martillac et terrasse de St Selve indifférenciés (type 3 à 5), Esltérien - "Mindel"	51.2%
Fvb(G)	Hautes terrasses (RG Garonne) - Terrasse de Martillac (type 2) indifférenciée et terrasse d'Arsac, Ménapien à Bavélien - "Gunz"	15.1%
Landes sand and the oldest river deposits		17.4%
Ft(Bn)	Formation de Belin, Tiglien - "Biber-Donau"	17.4%
Starfish limestone and marine marls		5.9%
g1-As	Calcaire à Astéries, Rupélien marin	5.9%

Informative figures, computed from INAO’s digitized parcel delimitation of October 12, 2026 and BRGM’s harmonized geological map (BD Charm-50); heights from IGN’s RGE ALTI 5 m. The plans held at the town hall are the legal reference. The delimited area is always somewhat larger than what is planted.

Sources: BRGM, Notice explicative de la feuille Podensac à 1/50 000, 1996; BRGM, Notice explicative de la feuille Langon à 1/50 000, 1978; INAO parcel delimitation (file of 2026-10-12) laid over BRGM BD Charm-50 Gironde, harmonized geological map.

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