Francs Côtes de Bordeaux
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ahn” 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.
The heights at the eastern edge of the Libournais: 3 communes, Francs, Saint-Cibard and Tayac, making red, dry white and sweet white, an appellation since 1967 and a place name of the
The place
Francs is 3 communes, Francs, Saint-Cibard and Tayac, on the right side of the Dordogne valley, east of
The rules
The red is Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, also called Cot, and Merlot, with Carmenère and Petit Verdot, at 4,500 vines a hectare. It asks 198 g/l of sugar for Merlot and 189 for the others, 11.5% of natural alcohol and 52 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 65, and is raised until March 15 and sold from March 31 of the year after the harvest. The dry white is Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon and Muscadelle, at 10.5% and 62 hectoliters with a ceiling of 72. The sweet white, liquoreux, is picked by hand in successive passes from overripe or botrytized grapes at 238 g/l of sugar, reaches 14.5% of natural alcohol with no enrichment, keeps at least 51 g/l of sugar, and yields 37 hectoliters with a ceiling of 40; like the red, it is sold from March 31 of the year after the harvest. The parcels were approved on June 3, 1983 and June 9, 2015.
The names
No classification. The appellation was recognized on May 26, 1967 as Bordeaux Côtes de Francs, and the decree of October 29, 2009 made it
- Colors
- Red, dry white, sweet white (liquoreux)
- Communes
- Francs, Saint-Cibard and Tayac
- Vineyard
- 435 hectares, 37 growers and 2 cooperatives
- Soil
- Sandy clay, sandy gravel in places; clay and limestone on the slopes, with green to bluish-gray clay
- Grapes
- Red: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot; Carmenère, Petit Verdot. White: Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon, Muscadelle
- Density
- 4,500 vines a hectare at least
- Yield
- Red 52 hectoliters, ceiling 65; dry white 62, ceiling 72; liquoreux 37, ceiling 40
- Alcohol
- Red 11.5%, dry white 10.5%, liquoreux 14.5% natural at least
- Release
- Red and liquoreux from March 31 of the year after the harvest
- Classified
- No classification
- AOC since
- May 26, 1967 as Bordeaux Côtes de Francs;
Francs Côtes de Bordeaux since 2009; cahier (the cahier des charges, the appellation’s official rulebook) of June 4, 2026
Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges
The stack
The same land in
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
Rivers made almost all of Francs. Sands and clays of old rivers and lakes (molasse) cover 87.4% of its delimited area, and a little over half the area is one sandy layer: medium sand, clayey and flecked with mica, gray-green to dark gray, usually limy.
The rivers that brought it wandered over a low flood plain where the water table stood at the surface almost all year, drying out with the seasons. The other main soil mapped here, as it was described farther north, is pale green sand with pebbles of white quartzite, passing upward into clays of green and bluish gray.
The sea that laid the starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries) pushed east past
- Slope wash and cover2.3%
- River and estuary deposits of today1.0%
- Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone0.3%
- Starfish limestone and marine marls9.1%
- Molasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes87.4%
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 70 m, and 9 tenths lies between 51 and 98 m. 12.3% of it is steeper than 10%.
Measured section
The line runs 5.0 km, from 42 m to 43 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 43 and 84 m.
Colors: Slope wash and coverRiver and estuary deposits of todayMolasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes
The units, as BRGM prints them
| Code | Name and age, as printed | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Slope wash and cover | 2.3% | |
| CF | Formations superficielles | 2.3% |
| River and estuary deposits of today | 1.0% | |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 1.0% in all | ||
| Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone | 0.3% | |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.3% in all | ||
| Starfish limestone and marine marls | 9.1% | |
| g1-As | Calcaire à Astéries, Rupélien marin | 9.1% |
| Molasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes | 87.4% | |
| g1b | Formation de Boisbreteau moy., Rupélien inf. continental | 3.4% |
| g1a | Formation de Boisbreteau moy. et formation de la Garde, Rupélien inf. continental | 23.8% |
| e7-g1-S | Molasse du Fronsadais sup. à facies sableux dominant, Priabonien sup. à Rupélien basal continental | 51.5% |
| e7c-A | Molasses du Fronsadais inf. à moy. (facies argileux dominant), Priabonien sup. continental | 8.3% |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.3% 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 Libourne à 1/50 000, 1995; BRGM, Notice explicative de la feuille Sainte-Foy-la-Grande à 1/50 000, 1994; BRGM, Notice explicative de la feuille Coutras à 1/50 000, 1981; INAO, Délimitation parcellaire des AOC viticoles, file of 2026-10-12 (Licence Ouverte), laid over BRGM BD Charm-50, Gironde (GEO050K_HARM_033, Licence Ouverte 2.0).
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