Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “an” 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.
White only, dry, medium sweet or fully sweet, from 10 communes around Saint-Macaire, a royal town of the English crown on the right bank of the Garonne, 40 kilometers upstream from Bordeaux.
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 lies mostly the molasse of the Agenais, sand and sandstone with layers of clay and beds of gravel, on 75% of the area, with patches of old river gravel, and the starfish limestone shows by the river at Saint-Macaire. By 2010 most of the 4,300 delimited hectares had been replanted to black grapes and were sold as Bordeaux and
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 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
- 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
- Soil
- Agenais molasse on 75% of the area; patches of old river gravel; starfish limestone by the river at Saint-Macaire
- 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
The stack
The same land in
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The pyramid of names shows what each step promises: vines a hectare, bottles, ripeness, day of sale, grapes. Climb from here
Terroir
The Garonne turns at Langon and Saint-Macaire, and the roads turn with it, because deep upfolds lie in the rock beneath. On a raised block of rock that runs through Verdelais, Langon and Saint-Macaire, the starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries) comes back to the surface; one of its local names was the Calcaire de Saint-Macaire.
Inside it are the caves of Saint-Macaire, which once displayed the formation's typical fossils: shells, sea urchins and sand dollars, corals and crabs. From Saint-Macaire to Saint-Pierre-d'Aurillac, the main road runs on the same limestone, hard to see, with more and more river sand and grit in it.
Away from the river the limestone gives way: it covers 0.7% of the delimited area. Sandstone rich in feldspar, sand, clay and beds of gravel, the Agenais molasse, cover 74.8%. In 1869 R. Tournouer showed that, from west to east, clays and sands laid down on land take the place of the sea's deposits, which pass sideways into the molasse. The river's bend was drawn underground.
- Slope wash and cover8.0%
- River and estuary deposits of today0.5%
- Ice age river terraces: sand, gravel, pebbles1.3%
- Landes sand and the oldest river deposits12.5%
- Shell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the Miocene2.1%
- Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone74.8%
- Starfish limestone and marine marls0.7%
- Lake limestones and clays0.1%
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 73 m, and 9 tenths lies between 30 and 102 m. 27.4% of it is steeper than 10%.
Measured section
The line runs 8.6 km, from 77 m to 8 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 14 and 106 m.
Colors: Slope wash and coverRiver and estuary deposits of todayShell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the MioceneAgenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone
The units, as BRGM prints them
| Code | Name and age, as printed | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Slope wash and cover | 8.0% | |
| CFp | Formations superficielles | 7.2% |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.8% in all | ||
| River and estuary deposits of today | 0.5% | |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.5% in all | ||
| Ice age river terraces: sand, gravel, pebbles | 1.3% | |
| Fxb(a) | Basse terrasses - Terrasse de Bègle (type 6) indifférenciée, Saalien - "Riss" | 1.3% |
| Landes sand and the oldest river deposits | 12.5% | |
| Ft(Sa) | Fmt de Sadirac, Tiglien - "Biber-Donau" | 12.5% |
| Shell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the Miocene | 2.1% | |
| m2-G | Grès à Miogypsines, Burdigalien marin | 1.2% |
| and 2 more units under 1% each, 0.9% in all | ||
| Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone | 74.8% | |
| g2-A | Molasse de l'Agenais sup. à faciès argileux dominant, Chattien continental | 38.5% |
| g1-A | Molasse de l'Agenais inf. à facies argileux dominant, Rupélien continental | 36.4% |
| Starfish limestone and marine marls | 0.7% | |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.7% in all | ||
| Lake limestones and clays | 0.1% | |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.1% in all | ||
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 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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