Graves Supérieures

grahv syew-pay-RYEUR

How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ew” is “ee” said with rounded lips. “eu” is “ay” said with rounded lips. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

The sweet white of the Graves, from the same 41 communes and part of Coimères, picked overripe by hand, and a name now being folded into Graves that may stay on labels through the 2028 harvest.

The place

Graves Supérieures is drawn on exactly the land of the Graves: a band about 10 kilometers wide on the left bank of the Garonne, from north of Bordeaux to southeast of Langon, around the Sauternes and Barsac enclave, 41 communes and part of a 42nd, Coimères. The soils are the ones that gave the Graves its name, pebbles, stones and gravel mixed with sand, silt and clay, resting on limestone in the south and on sand or clay farther north, with alios, the local ironpan, in places. In 2010 Graves and Graves Supérieures together covered nearly 5,000 hectares, and the sweet white made 7,500 of their 160,000 hectoliters.

The rules

White with more than 34 g/l of sugar left in it, from Muscadelle, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon, at no less than 5,000 vines a hectare in rows no more than 2 meters apart. 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 13.5% of natural alcohol and be sold at 12% at least. Forty hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 48. It is raised until January 15 and sold from January 31 of the year after the harvest.

The names

No classification. Graves and Graves Supérieures were recognized by the same decree, on March 4, 1937, and share one rulebook, the cahier des charges (the appellation’s official rulebook) homologated on March 3, 2025. The sweet wine is now being folded into Graves, and a white with sugar may still be presented as Graves Supérieures through the 2028 harvest. The growers of Cérons may also make it on their own land.

Color: Sweet white, more than 34 g/l of sugar
Communes: 41 and part of Coimères, the land of the Graves
Vineyard: 7,500 hectoliters of the 160,000 of Graves and Graves Supérieures together, in 2010
Soil: Pebbles, stones and gravel with sand, silt and clay, over limestone in the south, sand or clay farther north
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 48
Alcohol: 13.5% natural at least, sold at 12% at least
Release: From January 31 of the year after the harvest
Classified: No classification
AOC since: March 4, 1937; cahier of March 3, 2025, the name allowed on labels through the 2028 harvest

Source: FGVB, cahier des charges Graves et Graves supérieures, arrêté du 3 mars 2025

The stack

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

It shares named communes with Pessac-Léognan and Cérons.

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

Read this soil by its colors. On the old terraces of the Garonne, sands, gravels and pebbles sit in a clay of yellow and red, with very many feldspars showing in it. This is gravel country where vineyards alternate with meadows, on ocher soils that are acid and poor in potassium and calcium (podzolic, in the soil scientist's word). Along the Saucats stream even the shell sands (faluns) carry garnet, worn from rocks remade by heat and pressure.

Nearer the river marshes, the youngest gravels turn brown: their soils are slightly leached and hardly podzolized at all. Westward, toward the forest, the Landes sand takes over, and in its upper part an ironpan (alios) has set the sand hard. In winter the water table rises to the surface there, spilling over wherever the drainage ditches (crastes) are too sparse. At low water it lies about 2 m down. This soil's colors are what water has done to gravel.

15,698 ha delimited

Slope wash and cover17.5%
River and estuary deposits of today1.9%
Ice age river terraces: sand, gravel, pebbles60.6%
Landes sand and the oldest river deposits8.9%
Shell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the Miocene3.2%
Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone0.3%
Starfish limestone and marine marls7.7%

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 34 m, and 9 tenths lies between 12 and 68 m. 2.9% of it is steeper than 10%.

The same delimited soil as Graves, so the figures are the same.

Measured section

The line runs 16.9 km, from 59 m to 1 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 10 and 57 m.

Colors: Slope wash and coverRiver and estuary deposits of todayIce age river terraces: sand, gravel, pebblesLandes sand and the oldest river depositsShell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the MioceneStarfish limestone and marine marls

Measured section: one elevation every 10 meters, west to east, along the whole of a 16.9 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.

The units, as BRGM prints them

Code	Name and age, as printed	Share
Slope wash and cover		17.5%
CFp	Formations superficielles	17.4%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.1% in all
River and estuary deposits of today		1.9%
Fy3-z	Alluvions subactuelles à actuelles indiféernéciées (sic), Pré-boréal à actuel	1.9%
Ice age river terraces: sand, gravel, pebbles		60.6%
Fxb(a)	Basse terrasses - Terrasse de Bègle (type 6) indifférenciée, Saalien - "Riss"	2.5%
Fwb(G)	Moyennes terrasses (RG Garonne) - Terrasses de Léognan, terrasse de Martillac et terrasse de St Selve indifférenciés (type 3 à 5), Esltérien - "Mindel"	29.0%
Fvb(G)	Hautes terrasses (RG Garonne) - Terrasse de Martillac (type 2) indifférenciée et terrasse d'Arsac, Ménapien à Bavélien - "Gunz"	14.1%
Fva(G)	Très hautes terrasses (RG Garonne) - Terrasse de Léognan (type 1) indifférenciée et terrasse de Listrac, Waal - "Donau-Günz"	15.0%
Landes sand and the oldest river deposits		8.9%
Ft(Bn)	Formation de Belin, Tiglien - "Biber-Donau"	8.0%
	and 2 more units under 1% each, 0.9% in all
Shell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the Miocene		3.2%
m1-Cs	Faluns de Saucats, Aquitanien marin	2.2%
	and 5 more units 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		7.7%
g1-As	Calcaire à Astéries, Rupélien marin	7.7%

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 Pessac à 1/50 000, 1978; BRGM, Notice explicative de la feuille Hostens à 1/50 000, 1973; INAO parcel delimitation (file of 2026-10-12) laid over BRGM BD Charm-50 Gironde, harmonized geological map.

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