Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire

The place

The appellation is 10 communes on the right bank of the Garonne near Langon, continuing the Premières Côtes to the south: Caudrot, Le Pian-sur-Garonne, Saint-André-du-Bois, Saint-Laurent-du-Bois, Saint-Laurent-du-Plan, Saint-Macaire, Saint-Martial, Saint-Martin-de-Sescas, Saint-Pierre-d’Aurillac and Sainte-Foy-la-Longue. Under them are starfish limestone, the molasse of the Agenais and river terraces, with gravelly sandy clay on slopes that face south. By 2010 most of the 4,300 delimited hectares had been replanted to black grapes and were sold as Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur.

The rules

White only, from Muscadelle, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon, at no less than 4,500 vines a hectare and no more than 10 buds a vine, in 3 styles set by the sugar left in the wine. A dry wine keeps 4 g/l or less and is labeled sec; it asks 187 g/l of sugar in the grape, 11% of natural alcohol and 55 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 60. A medium sweet wine keeps between 34 and 45 g/l and is labeled moelleux; it asks 221 g/l, 13.5% of natural alcohol, 11.5% in the bottle, and 45 hectoliters with a ceiling of 55, and is raised until December 15 and sold from February 1. A fully sweet wine, liquoreux, keeps more than 45 g/l. It comes only from grapes touched by noble rot and picked by hand in successive passes, at 255 g/l of sugar and 16% of natural alcohol, 12% in the bottle, with no enrichment. It yields 37 hectoliters with a ceiling of 40, is raised until March 15 and is sold from April 1 of the year after the harvest. The cahier des charges (the appellation’s official rulebook) in force, the appellation’s official rulebook, dates from the arrêté of October 12, 2021.

The names

No classification. The appellation was recognized by the decree of July 31, 1937. It carries Côtes de Bordeaux in its name, but it is an appellation of its own and not 1 of the 5 place names of the Côtes de Bordeaux. Saint-Macaire was a royal town under the English crown and held a privilege for its wines from 1341, and coopers worked there from the 18th century to the 20th.

Color

White: dry (sec), medium sweet (moelleux) or fully sweet (liquoreux)

Communes

10, around Saint-Macaire

Vineyard

4,300 hectares delimited, most of them replanted to red by 2010

Ground

Starfish limestone, Agenais molasse, river terraces; gravelly sandy clay on south slopes

Grapes

Muscadelle, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon

Density

4,500 vines a hectare at least, 10 buds a vine at most

Yield

Dry 55 hectoliters, ceiling 60; moelleux 45, ceiling 55; liquoreux 37, ceiling 40

Alcohol

Dry 11% natural; moelleux 13.5%; liquoreux 16%, from 255 g/l of sugar, by hand in successive passes

Release

Moelleux from February 1, liquoreux from April 1 of the year after the harvest

Classified

No classification

AOC since

July 31, 1937; cahier of October 12, 2021

Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire, arrêté du 12 octobre 2021 · INAO, Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire