Guide
The grapes of Bordeaux: 6 red, 4 white, and the 10 on trial
Everyone can name 3. The cahier (the cahier des charges, the appellation’s official rulebook) names 6, and it has been quietly admitting more since 2021.
The short answer
The Bordeaux cahier admits 6 red grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Carmenère and Petit Verdot, and 4 principal whites, Sémillon, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle, with 3 more whites allowed as accessories. Since 2021 it has also admitted varieties on trial, 10 of them in the text now in force.
The 6 reds
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec (which the cahiers call Cot, its old name in the southwest), Carmenère and Petit Verdot. All 6 are principal varieties in the Bordeaux cahier, and the same 6 appear in the Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Listrac-Médoc, Graves and Pessac-Léognan texts.
2 of them are nearly gone from the ground. Carmenère was almost wiped out after phylloxera and is now better known in Chile; Malbec survives in quantity mostly upriver in Cahors, though it is still planted in Saint-Émilion, where it goes by a third name, Pressac.
What is actually planted
The cahier admits 6 reds, but the ground does not plant them evenly. The figures below are the CIVB's own, the trade body of Bordeaux, as it publishes them in 2026: each variety's share of the red planting, and of the white.
| Red | Share of the red vineyard |
|---|---|
| Merlot | 66% |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 22.5% |
| Cabernet Franc | 9.5% |
| Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenère together | 2% |
| White | Share of the white vineyard |
|---|---|
| Sauvignon Blanc | 45% |
| Sémillon | 42% |
| Muscadelle | 5% |
| Colombard, Merlot Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Ugni Blanc together | 8% |
So 2 grapes, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, are 9 red vines in 10, and the 3 the guides call rare are 2 vines in 100. Red is most of what Bordeaux makes: 83% of the volume of the 2024 harvest, rosé included, by the ministry's own count for the Gironde.
The whites
4 principal: Sémillon, Sauvignon, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle. 3 accessory, capped together at 30% of the holding’s white planting: Colombard, Merlot Blanc and Ugni Blanc. So the familiar count of 4 whites is the count of principal varieties, and the cahier actually admits 7.
The varieties on trial
In 2021 Bordeaux began admitting varieties chosen for their behavior in a warmer, drier, more diseased climate. The framework was approved by the INAO national committee on June 2 and 3, 2021, and the first 6 were Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan and Touriga Nacional in red, Alvarinho and Liliorila in white.
The cahier in force, homologated by the order of May 13, 2026, now names 10: Vidoc has joined the reds, and Floréal, Sauvignac and Souvignier Gris the whites. The rules are the same for all of them.
| Rule | Limit |
|---|---|
| Share of the holding’s planted area, for the color concerned | 5% or less |
| Share of the blend sold | 10% or less |
| Conditions | A convention signed between INAO, the growers’ body and the grower |
They are not on every label and not in every appellation: the Médoc, Haut-Médoc and Listrac-Médoc texts admit them, Graves, Pessac-Léognan and Pauillac do not.
Why it matters
Because a 5% planting limit is not a gesture. An estate that plants Touriga Nacional today is making a bet about what its ground will be like in 30 years, and the cahier is letting it hedge without losing the appellation. That is the quiet argument running under every conversation about Bordeaux and the climate.
Where to go next
Sources: Fédération des Grands Vins de Bordeaux, cahier des charges AOC Bordeaux · Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, the grape varieties · Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Gironde wine sector in figures, June 2025