Graves
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.
The appellation named for its soil: gravel, over 55 kilometers of the left bank of the Garonne from the edge of Bordeaux to Langon, red and dry white, with its sweet wine now being folded into it.
The place
The rules
Red from the 6 Bordeaux varieties and dry white from Sémillon, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle, at 5,000 vines a hectare. The red asks 55 hectoliters with a ceiling of 65 and 11% of natural alcohol, and is raised until April 15 and sold from May 1 of the year after the harvest; the dry white asks 58 and 68 and 10.5%. The sweet wine of the same land,
The names
The classified growths that carry the word
- Colors
- Red and dry white; sweet white as
Graves Supérieures - Communes
- 41 and part of Coimères
- Vineyard
- 5,000 hectares, about 21 million bottles, in 2010
- Grapes
- Red: the 6 Bordeaux varieties; white: Sémillon, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Muscadelle
- Density
- 5,000 vines a hectare at least
- Yield
- Red 55 hectoliters, ceiling 65; dry white 58, ceiling 68; sweet 40
- Alcohol
- Red 11%, dry white 10.5%, sweet 13.5% natural at least
- Release
- Reds from May 1 of the year after the harvest
- Classified
- No classification
- AOC since
- March 4, 1937
Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges
The stack
The same land in
It shares named communes with
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
The name is a description.
In the words of the 1978 map of Pessac, the vine “settles on gravels that are not too sanded over, facing south and east in particular.” The rest of the soil is something else: slope wash, Landes sand, very old river deposits and, in the south, the Oligocene starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries). Around Pujols-sur-Ciron the terrace has worn away completely, leaving a few reddish sands, scattered pebbles and the clay the limestone leaves as it dissolves.
At Pujols-sur-Ciron that limestone was once quarried for building and for roads, a stone shot through with fissures and ocher clay. The Oligocene limestone around Landiras gave building stone too, and stone for the roads. Even a name made of gravel has stone in it.
- 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
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
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 | 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; 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.
Its soil, layer by layer · See it in 3D · See it on the Map · Compare it with another appellation · All about Terroir
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Tastings
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