Lussac-Saint-Émilion

lew-SAHK san tay-mee-LYOHN

How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ew” is “ee” said with rounded lips. “ohn” and “an” are nasal vowels: say them through the nose, with no n. The recording is the reference.

Red only from the commune of Lussac, north of Saint-Émilion, on slopes of sand and clay with a limestone plateau, sandier to the north: one of the 4 satellites entitled to add Saint-Émilion to their name.

The place

The appellation is the commune of Lussac and no other: hillsides mostly of molasse, the sands and clays of old rivers and lakes, on 78% of the area, with starfish limestone on about 13%, soils mostly of clay and limestone in the south and the center, and toward the north sandy clay and sandy silt with gravel. The climate is oceanic with a continental edge, hot summers and long autumns. People were here before the vine was a trade: the Gallo-Roman years left their amphorae and pruning hooks, and the abbey of Faize was founded in the 12th century. In 2009 the appellation covered 1,436 hectares and made an average of 75,000 hectoliters a year, on holdings of about 8 hectares.

The rules

Red only. Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec (Cot in the rules) and Merlot are the principal varieties; Carmenère and Petit Verdot are accessory, to 10% of the vines. At least 5,500 vines a hectare, in rows no more than 2 meters apart. Merlot must be picked at 194 g/l of sugar and the other varieties at 180, and the wine must reach 11% of natural alcohol, at 53 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 65. It is raised until March 31 and sold from April 15 of the year after the harvest. The rulebook in force, the cahier des charges (the appellation’s official rulebook) of January 11, 2024, wrote the farming into the appellation: no chemical weeding of a whole plot, a record of every treatment kept by every grower, and organic or environmental certification for all of them.

The names

Lussac-Saint-Émilion is one of the 4 satellites, with Montagne, Puisseguin and Saint-Georges. The right to the name was won in court: the tribunal of Libourne ruled on November 24, 1921, and on February 19, 1923 the Cour de Bordeaux let the communes around Saint-Émilion use it, on condition that their own name came first. The classification does not come with it: the Premiers Grands Crus Classés and the Grands Crus Classés belong to Saint-Émilion Grand Cru alone.

Color: Red
Communes: Lussac, and no other
Vineyard: 1,436 hectares and 75,000 hectoliters a year in 2009, on holdings of about 8 hectares
Soil: Molasse hillsides (78%), starfish limestone (13%); clay and limestone in the south; sandy clay and sandy silt with gravel in the north
Grapes: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot; Carmenère and Petit Verdot to 10%
Density: 5,500 vines a hectare at least
Yield: 53 hectoliters a hectare, ceiling 65
Alcohol: 11% natural at least; 194 g/l of sugar for Merlot, 180 for the others
Release: From April 15 of the year after the harvest
Farming: No chemical weeding of a whole plot; organic or environmental certification for every grower, since 2024
Classified: No classification
AOC since: November 14, 1936; cahier of January 11, 2024

Source: FGVB, cahier des charges Lussac Saint-Emilion, arrêté du 11 janvier 2024

The stack

The same land in Lussac-Saint-Émilion may also be labeled Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur, Crémant de Bordeaux and Pomerol. 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

Every sea has a shore. The beds at the base of the starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries) grow less and less marine toward the north-east of the Libourne map, and the rock itself takes in more sand near the places where rivers brought sediment in. Lussac lies toward that side.

Rivers hold most of the soil here. The sands and clays of old rivers and lakes (molasse) lie under 78.0% of the delimited area, and north of the commune gray-green sandy clays laid by rivers pile up to 10 m thick. The limestone holds 12.6%, a plateau whose top has weathered into brown limy clays, with patches of sand, gravel and green to ocher clay lying on it.

In places, younger clays and sands of the Agenais rest above the limestone, mixed into its weathered top. Stone was also taken from underground quarries in the commune. Rivers before the sea, rivers after it: Lussac keeps both.

1,863 ha delimited

Slope wash and cover5.0%
River and estuary deposits of today0.5%
Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone4.0%
Starfish limestone and marine marls12.6%
Molasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes78.0%

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 61 m, and 9 tenths lies between 45 and 79 m. 7.7% of it is steeper than 10%.

Measured section

The line runs 7.6 km, from 25 m to 49 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 46 and 75 m.

Colors: Slope wash and coverRiver and estuary deposits of todayStarfish limestone and marine marlsLake limestones and claysMolasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes

Measured section: one elevation every 10 meters, north to south, along the whole of a 7.6 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		5.0%
CF	Formations superficielles	5.0%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.0% in all
River and estuary deposits of today		0.5%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.5% in all
Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone		4.0%
g2-A	Molasse de l'Agenais sup. à faciès argileux dominant, Chattien continental	4.0%
Starfish limestone and marine marls		12.6%
g1-As	Calcaire à Astéries, Rupélien marin	12.6%
Molasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes		78.0%
g1a	Formation de Boisbreteau moy. et formation de la Garde, Rupélien inf. continental	19.0%
e7-g1-A	Molasse du Fronsadais sup. à facies argileux dominant, Priabonien sup. à Rupélien basal continental	22.1%
e7-g1-S	Molasse du Fronsadais sup. à facies sableux dominant, Priabonien sup. à Rupélien basal continental	36.3%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.7% 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; INAO parcel delimitation (file of 2026-10-12) laid over BRGM BD Charm-50 Gironde, harmonized geological map.

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Also in this appellation, with no page here yet: Château La Rose Perrière.