Haut-Benauge

ahntr deu mair oh buh-NOHZH

How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “zh” is the s in “measure”. “eu” is “ay” said with rounded lips. “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.

1 place name that 2 appellations may add, in the hills of the Entre-deux-Mers around Targon: Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge, a dry white, and Bordeaux Haut-Benauge, a white that may be dry or sweet, from 8 communes.

The place

The Haut-Benauge is hill country in the middle of the Entre-deux-Mers, between the Garonne and the Dordogne, and the name belongs to 8 communes: Escoussans, Gornac, Ladaux, Mourens, Porte-de-Benauge, Saint-Pierre-de-Bat, Soulignac and Targon. Porte-de-Benauge took in Saint-Génis-du-Bois on January 1, 2025; for Bordeaux Haut-Benauge, only the commune as it stood before counts. The soil is mostly molasse, clay mixed with sand and sandstone, on 67% of the area, with starfish limestone and old river gravel on about one tenth each. Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge is a tiny wine: no more than 10 growers, on 45 hectares.

The rules

Neither of the 2 is an appellation on its own. Haut-Benauge is a place name added after Entre-deux-Mers or after Bordeaux, and each follows its own cahier des charges, the official rulebook of its appellation. Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge is a dry white of 4 g/l of sugar or less, from Sémillon, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle, at least 70% of the vines, with Colombard and Ugni Blanc as accessories. It asks 4,500 vines a hectare, grapes at 170 g/l of sugar, 10.5% of natural alcohol and 65 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 75, and the wine stays on its lees until November 15. Bordeaux Haut-Benauge takes only Sémillon, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle and asks riper grapes, 195 g/l and 11.5% of natural alcohol, 11% in the bottle and no more than 13% after enrichment, at 55 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 60, lower than the Entre-deux-Mers figure; it may be dry, or keep between 5 and 60 g/l of sugar.

The names

No classification. Bordeaux was recognized on November 14, 1936 and the Entre-deux-Mers on July 31, 1937, and in 1955 the name Haut-Benauge was allowed on the wines of the 9 communes these hills then counted. The Entre-deux-Mers rulebook in force was homologated on September 19, 2025 and the Bordeaux rulebook on May 13, 2026.

Colors: White: dry as Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge; dry or sweet as Bordeaux Haut-Benauge
Communes: Escoussans, Gornac, Ladaux, Mourens, Porte-de-Benauge, Saint-Pierre-de-Bat, Soulignac, Targon
Vineyard: 45 hectares and no more than 10 growers for Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge
Soil: Molasse of clay and sand on 67%; starfish limestone and old river gravel
Grapes: Sémillon, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Muscadelle; Colombard and Ugni Blanc also for Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge
Density: 4,500 vines a hectare for Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge
Yield: Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge 65 hectoliters, ceiling 75; Bordeaux Haut-Benauge 55, ceiling 60
Alcohol: Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge 10.5% natural; Bordeaux Haut-Benauge 11.5%
Classified: No classification
AOC since: Entre-deux-Mers 1937, Bordeaux 1936; the name Haut-Benauge since 1955

Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges Entre-deux-Mers, arrêté du 19 septembre 2025 · FGVB, cahier des charges Bordeaux, arrêté du 13 mai 2026 · Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, Entre-deux-Mers Haut-Benauge

The stack

The same land in Haut-Benauge may also be labeled Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur, Crémant de Bordeaux and Entre-deux-Mers. A grower chooses which appellation to sell under, and the narrowest is almost always the dearest.

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

Around Gornac, a plow or a new ditch can turn up oyster shells more than 10 centimeters across. They come as a surprise, because most of this soil was laid down by rivers and lakes. Their clays and sands, the Agenais molasse, cover 67.0% of the delimited area, and the upper layers show those rivers losing strength, their channels giving way to an ever quieter floodplain.

Then the sea slipped back in, briefly. At Laurès, east of Gornac, it left a layer too thin to show on the map. Around Mourens and Gornac it made its last arrival recorded on the map sheet, a bed of sandy limestone.

At Meyssan, near Cantois, a clay pit laid bare what lies beneath the molasse: the starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries), sometimes with oyster and sand dollar debris at the contact, from another brief visit of the sea. The pit's clay went to a tile and brick works near Gironde-sur-Dropt. Small quarries at Escoussans and Arbis cut the limestone itself for ornamental stone, ballast and lime, and most of them closed. In the old quarry faces at Arbis, sea urchins and corals survive as molds. The sea came back to these hills as a guest.

6,717 ha delimited

Slope wash and cover9.2%
River and estuary deposits of today0.4%
Landes sand and the oldest river deposits9.1%
Shell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the Miocene3.1%
Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone67.0%
Starfish limestone and marine marls10.4%
Lake limestones and clays0.8%

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 74 m, and 9 tenths lies between 50 and 106 m. 18.1% of it is steeper than 10%.

Measured section

The line runs 11.2 km, from 64 m to 50 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 40 and 106 m.

Colors: Slope wash and coverRiver and estuary deposits of todayLandes sand and the oldest river depositsShell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the MioceneAgenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestoneStarfish limestone and marine marlsLake limestones and clays

Measured section: one elevation every 10 meters, west to east, along the whole of a 11.2 km line set across the appellation by a fixed rule, not chosen for the view (IGN, RGE ALTI 5 m, with LiDAR HD where the 5 m grid came from the old BD ALTI 25 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		9.2%
CFp	Formations superficielles	9.2%
River and estuary deposits of today		0.4%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.4% in all
Landes sand and the oldest river deposits		9.1%
Ft(Sa)	Fmt de Sadirac, Tiglien - "Biber-Donau"	9.1%
Shell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the Miocene		3.1%
m2-G	Grès à Miogypsines, Burdigalien marin	2.0%
m1-Ma	Marnes à Ostrea aginensis, Aquitanien inf. marin	1.1%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.0% in all
Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone		67.0%
g2-A	Molasse de l'Agenais sup. à faciès argileux dominant, Chattien continental	31.0%
g1-A	Molasse de l'Agenais inf. à facies argileux dominant, Rupélien continental	36.0%
Starfish limestone and marine marls		10.4%
g1-As	Calcaire à Astéries, Rupélien marin	10.4%
Lake limestones and clays		0.8%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.8% 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 Podensac à 1/50 000, 1996; INAO parcel delimitation (file of 2026-10-12) laid over BRGM BD Charm-50 Gironde, harmonized geological map.

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