Sainte-Croix-du-Mont

sant krwah dew MOHN

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 French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

Sweet white from one commune on a hill of marls and sandstone above the right bank of the Garonne, facing Sauternes across the river, where banks of fossil oysters show in the rock and caves are cut into it.

The place

Sainte-Croix-du-Mont is one commune on the right bank of the Garonne, its village and vines set on a steep hill that looks across the river at Sauternes and Barsac. The hill is marls at the foot, under the vines, then a shell bed and some 15 meters of limy sandstone, capped by a bank of fossil oysters beneath the church; old river gravel, sand and clay cover nearly half the appellation, and the starfish limestone lies out of sight below the slopes. In 1978 the local white wines were tasted in caves dug into the rock beneath the church. About 50 producers give some 370 hectares to the appellation and make an average of 12,000 hectoliters.

The rules

Sweet white only, from Muscadelle, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon, with Sémillon by far the largest share. At least 5,000 vines a hectare, in rows no more than 2.20 meters apart. The grapes are picked by hand in successive passes, overripe, touched by noble rot or shriveled on the vine, and must carry 238 g/l of sugar for Sémillon and 229 for the others. The wine must reach 14.5% of natural alcohol, be sold at 12% at least and keep at least 45 g/l of sugar, at 40 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 44. It is raised until January 15 and sold from January 31 of the year after the harvest. The cahier des charges in force, the appellation’s official rulebook, was last modified on December 29, 2025.

The names

No classification. The growers formed their syndicate in 1908. The Cour d’appel de Bordeaux drew the limits of the commune’s wine on July 28, 1930, and the decree of September 11, 1936 recognized the appellation inside them, on the same day as Loupiac next door. The habit of raising the wine in barrel and then in bottle goes back to about 1750, when the Dutch match, a sulfur wick burned in the cask, came into use.

Color: Sweet white
Communes: Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, and no other
Vineyard: About 370 hectares, some 50 producers, an average of 12,000 hectoliters
Soil: Marls and limy sandstone capped by a fossil oyster bank; old river gravel on nearly half the area
Grapes: Muscadelle, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon, Sémillon by far the largest share
Density: 5,000 vines a hectare at least
Harvest: By hand, in successive passes; 238 g/l of sugar for Sémillon, 229 for the others
Yield: 40 hectoliters a hectare, ceiling 44
Alcohol: 14.5% natural at least, sold at 12% at least; 45 g/l of sugar left
Release: From January 31 of the year after the harvest
Classified: No classification
AOC since: September 11, 1936; cahier modified on December 29, 2025

Source: FGVB, cahier des charges Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, arrêté du 29 décembre 2025

The stack

The same land in Sainte-Croix-du-Mont may also be labeled Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur, Crémant de Bordeaux, Côtes de Bordeaux, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux and Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux. 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

Beneath the church of Sainte-Croix-du-Mont lies a level thick with fossil oysters: the oyster bank, at the top of the hill. In 1978 caves at this spot were where the local white wines were tasted. The starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries) lies lower down, under clays, out of sight.

Between the two, the footpath from the riverside road up to the church crosses the hill's layers in order. Vines cover the marls at the foot, laid down by land and lakes as the sea drew back. Above them come a thin gray lake limestone, a clayey shell bed that grows richer in sea shells toward its top, and a thick limy sandstone with oysters and sand dollars. J. Labrie, quoting the geologist Fallot, saw the early Miocene sea spreading in a kind of downfold whose hollow is felt most beneath these hills.

The slopes are hard climbing: 60.7% of the delimited area is steeper than 10%, the steepest share of all the appellations measured here. On the road south of the village, a landslip has left part of the bank below its normal height. Even the oysters here have come down the hill.

615 ha delimited

Slope wash and cover20.2%
River and estuary deposits of today2.3%
Landes sand and the oldest river deposits46.8%
Shell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the Miocene6.2%
Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone24.4%
Starfish limestone and marine marls0.1%

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 77 m, and 9 tenths lies between 18 and 110 m.

Measured section

The line runs 4.4 km, from 2 m to 57 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 8 and 116 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 limestone

Measured section: one elevation every 10 meters, west to east, along the whole of a 4.4 km line set across the appellation by a fixed rule, not chosen for the view (IGN, RGE ALTI 5 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		20.2%
CFp	Formations superficielles	14.4%
CFp'	Formations superficielles	5.8%
River and estuary deposits of today		2.3%
Fy3-z	Alluvions subactuelles à actuelles indiféernéciées (sic), Pré-boréal à actuel	2.3%
Landes sand and the oldest river deposits		46.8%
Ft(Sa)	Fmt de Sadirac, Tiglien - "Biber-Donau"	46.8%
Shell sands (faluns), limestones and marls of the Miocene		6.2%
m1-Ms	Faluns de Saucats à faciès marneux dominants, Aquitanien marin	2.6%
m1-Gb	Grès et calcaires de Bazas, Aquitanien terminal marin	3.6%
Agenais molasses: clays and sands above the limestone		24.4%
g1-A	Molasse de l'Agenais inf. à facies argileux dominant, Rupélien continental	24.4%
Starfish limestone and marine marls		0.1%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.1% 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 Langon à 1/50 000, 1978; J. Labrie, Les dépôts aquitaniens et les limites de la mer aquitanienne en Entre-deux-Mers, 1904; INAO parcel delimitation (file of 2026-10-12) laid over BRGM BD Charm-50 Gironde, harmonized geological map; IGN RGE ALTI 5 m, Gironde, edition 2021-04-19.

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