Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “zh” is the s in “measure”. “ohn” and “an” are nasal vowels: say them through the nose, with no n. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.
Red only from the limestone and clay slopes of the old village of Saint-Georges, above the Barbanne stream and part of Montagne since 1973: 200 hectares, and one of the 4 satellites entitled to add
The place
Saint-Georges was a commune until 1973, when Montagne took it in, and the appellation keeps its land above the Barbanne: starfish limestone on about one third of it, molasse, the sands and clays of old rivers and lakes, on 42%, and lake limestone on 15%. The soils are clay and limestone, on slopes steeper than 5% over nearly two thirds of the area. The vineyard covers 200 hectares, shared by 24 growers.
The rules
Red only, from Merlot above all, which the growers complete in places with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot must be picked at 194 g/l of sugar and the other varieties at 180, the wine must reach 11% of natural alcohol, and the yield is 53 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 65. It reaches the consumer from March 31 of the year after the harvest. The cahier des charges in force, the appellation’s official rulebook, was homologated by the decree of October 20, 2011.
The names
The vineyard was planted in Roman times and spread in the Middle Ages with the religious orders. On February 19, 1923 the Court of Appeal of Bordeaux let the communes around
- Color
- Red
- Communes
- Part of Montagne: the old commune of Saint-Georges, merged into Montagne in 1973
- Vineyard
- 200 hectares, 24 growers
- Soil
- Starfish limestone (34%), molasse (42%), lake limestone (15%); clay and limestone soils, above the Barbanne
- Grapes
- Merlot above all, with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon in places
- 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 March 31 of the year after the harvest
- Classified
- No classification
- AOC since
- 1936; cahier of October 20, 2011
Sources: INAO, Saint-Georges-Saint-Emilion · FGVB, cahier des charges Saint-Georges-Saint-Emilion, décret du 20 octobre 2011 · FGVB, synthèse des cahiers des charges au 18 janvier 2024 · FGVB, synthèse des cahiers des charges au 2 avril 2026, dates à respecter · Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux,
The stack
The same land in
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
Olive, blue-green, gray-beige, ocher. These are the colors of the clays of Saint-Georges. Along the Barbanne stream the Palaeotherium clays, named for an extinct horse-like mammal, show olive-green and limy; in its valley they turn blue-green, with small reddish mottles and nodules of lime; elsewhere they run gray-green to gray-beige, spotted with ocher and mottled with blue. They lie under 10.4% of the delimited area.
From the limestone plateau the land falls south toward the Barbanne valley. In the commune of Montagne, which takes in the old commune of Saint-Georges, green and whitish clays grade into the deposits of an old lake, the Castillon formation, at 15.2% of the area here. Above lies the starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries), with thinner, better-drained brown soils on it.
Clays like these were once dug from small pits in the Libournais to make terracotta. Under the vines, the soil keeps a whole palette of greens.
- Slope wash and cover8.7%
- River and estuary deposits of today0.2%
- Starfish limestone and marine marls33.8%
- Lake limestones and clays15.2%
- Molasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes42.2%
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 53 m, and 9 tenths lies between 28 and 74 m. 13.8% of it is steeper than 10%.
Measured section
The line runs 4.2 km, from 21 m to 38 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 27 and 76 m.
Colors: Slope wash and coverStarfish limestone and marine marlsLake limestones and claysMolasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes
The units, as BRGM prints them
| Code | Name and age, as printed | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Slope wash and cover | 8.7% | |
| CF | Formations superficielles | 8.7% |
| River and estuary deposits of today | 0.2% | |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.2% in all | ||
| Starfish limestone and marine marls | 33.8% | |
| g1-As | Calcaire à Astéries, Rupélien marin | 33.8% |
| Lake limestones and clays | 15.2% | |
| g1-Cc | Formation du Calcaire de Castillon s.s., Rupélien basal continental | 15.2% |
| Molasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes | 42.2% | |
| e7 | Formation Boisbreteau inf., Priabonien sup. continental | 13.2% |
| e7-g1-S | Molasse du Fronsadais sup. à facies sableux dominant, Priabonien sup. à Rupélien basal continental | 18.0% |
| e6-7 | Argiles à Paléotherium, Bartonien sup. à Priabonien inf. continental | 10.4% |
| and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.6% 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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