Bonnezeaux

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The vineyard extends across three south-west-facing slopes — 'La Montagne', 'Beauregard', and 'Fesles' — forming a belt 2,800 metres long and 500 metres wide.
• The geological substratum belongs to the Saint-Georges-sur-Loire series, a schisto-arenaceous complex dating from the Upper Ordovician to the Lower Devonian, sometimes overlain by Cenomanian formations, notably on the Fesles slope.
• The soils of the delimited plots are shallow and very rich in coarse elements, grey-green to occasionally wine-lees in colour, with a water-holding capacity below 100 millimetres and excellent drainage.
• The zone enjoys a tempered oceanic climate, receiving low rainfall and sheltered from oceanic moisture by the higher relief of the Choletais and the Mauges, with annual precipitation of around 550 to 600 millimetres compared with more than 800 millimetres on those uplands.
• The southern flora that develops specifically on these slopes is evidence of a relative aridity and of temperatures higher than those of the surrounding areas.

• Harvest traditionally takes place at over-ripe maturity, a practice described by Odart in 1845 as picking around All Saints' Day, when the grape skin falls into a state of gangrene.
• Jullien noted in 1816 that in the finest growths the harvest was carried out in several passes, the first two pickings of the ripest grapes providing the wines exported abroad.

• The wines are distinguished by a great sweetness linked to a high content of fermentable sugars, combined with an often complex fruitiness evoking dried fruits, exotic fruits, and white flowers.
• The colour is frequently a light gold with green highlights, while the balance between acidity, alcohol, and richness allows the wines to develop towards even greater complexity over the years.

• The prevailing winds that sweep across the slopes, combined with a very limited water supply on skeletal soils, allow concentration of the berries through withering or desiccation on the vine.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in France

Sources

• Product specification (BO Agri, PDF) — approved 5 décembre 2025, JORF 20 décembre 2025
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — InterLoire