Guide
What grapes are allowed in Bordeaux?
Everyone can name 3. The rulebook names 6, and since 2021 it has been admitting more.
The short answer
Six red grapes and 7 white ones, with 10 more on trial since 2021. Merlot alone is 2 red vines in 3, and Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon are 87 white vines in 100. The cahier des charges, the appellation’s rulebook, sets the limits for the rest.
Six reds, and 2 of them nearly gone
Cabernet Sauvignon (opens in a new tab), Cabernet Franc (opens in a new tab), Merlot (opens in a new tab), Malbec (opens in a new tab) (which the cahiers call Cot, its old name in the Southwest), Carmenère (opens in a new tab) and Petit Verdot (opens in a new tab). All 6 are principal varieties in the Bordeaux cahier, and the same 6 appear in the
Two of them are nearly gone from the vineyards. Carmenère was almost wiped out after phylloxera, the vine louse that devastated Europe’s vineyards in the 19th century, and is better known in Chile. Malbec survives in quantity mostly upriver in Cahors, though it is also planted in
The rulebook admits 6; the soil plants 2
These are each variety’s shares of the red planting and of the white, in the CIVB (opens in a new tab)’s figures.
| 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 (opens in a new tab) | 45% |
| Sémillon (opens in a new tab) | 42% |
| Muscadelle (opens in a new tab) | 5% |
| Colombard (opens in a new tab), Merlot Blanc (opens in a new tab), Sauvignon Gris (opens in a new tab) and Ugni Blanc (opens in a new tab) together | 8% |
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are 9 red vines in 10; the 3 minor reds are 2 in 100. Sauvignon Gris, a principal variety, is counted in the last white line, with the accessories.
Red is most of what Bordeaux makes. Red and rosé together were 83% of the volume of the 2024 harvest in the Gironde: more than 4 bottles in 5.
Seven whites, not 4
Four principal: Sémillon, Sauvignon (the Sauvignon Blanc of the table above), Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle. Three accessory, capped together at 30% of the holding’s white planting: Colombard, Merlot Blanc and Ugni Blanc. The familiar count of 4 is the count of principal varieties. The cahier admits 7.
Ten grapes on trial, and a 5% ceiling
In 2021 Bordeaux began admitting varieties chosen for a warmer, drier climate with more disease pressure. The INAO, the French appellation authority, approved the first 6 early that year: Arinarnoa (opens in a new tab), Castets (opens in a new tab), Marselan (opens in a new tab) and Touriga Nacional (opens in a new tab) in red, Alvarinho (opens in a new tab) and Liliorila (opens in a new tab) in white.
The cahier in force, approved by the order of May 13, 2026, names 10. Vidoc (opens in a new tab) has joined the reds, and Floréal (opens in a new tab), Sauvignac (opens in a new tab) and Souvignier Gris (opens in a new tab) the whites. The same rules bind all of them.
| Rule | Limit |
|---|---|
| Share of the estate’s planted area, for that color | 5% or less |
| Share of the blend sold | 10% or less |
| Condition | An agreement signed by INAO, the growers’ body and the grower |
That is 1 vine in 20 and 1 glass in 10. The varieties are not in every appellation either: the
A hedge written into the rulebook
A 5% planting limit is small, but it is real. An estate that plants Touriga Nacional is making a bet about what its vineyard will be like in 30 years, and the cahier lets it hedge without losing the appellation.
Everyone can name 3. The rulebook names 23.
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 · Harpers Wine & Spirit, Six new grape varieties approved in Bordeaux, March 4, 2021 · ODG