Lussac-Saint-Émilion

The place

The appellation is the commune of Lussac and no other: hillsides on starfish limestone, 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 1 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

Ground

Hillsides on starfish limestone; 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