Bugey

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The relief reaches its highest point at the Grand Colombier, at 1,534 metres above sea level, dominating narrow valleys carved into a landscape of rugged small mountains.
• The Bugey vineyard occupies clearings oriented mainly south/south-east to south/south-west, on domes shaped by glaciers, the result of Alpine folding of the Jura during the Tertiary period and glacial action during the Quaternary period.
• In the Belley area, well-exposed plots feature well-drained soils developed on Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous limestone and marl formations, or on Miocene molasse derived from the erosion of the Alps.
• The Manicle enclave is a small vineyard perched on a mountain ledge, on soils of calcareous scree, to the west of the Belley area.
• The oceanic climate brings abundant annual rainfall in the range of 1,100 to 1,300 millimetres, while remaining under southerly and continental influences, with long and sometimes harsh winters and warm summers.

• The Bugey vineyard experienced its greatest expansion between 1830 and 1870, covering approximately 20,000 hectares in the département of Ain, driven first by monks and then by wealthy landowners.
• Doctor Jules Guyot noted in 1868 that wine production at that time accounted for 25% of the département's agricultural output.
• The sparkling wines of the Cerdon area, known from 1945 to 1958 as "Vins provenant du canton de Poncin", are produced using the méthode ancestrale, refined by producers at the end of the twentieth century.

• Red wines made from Mondeuse show a very pronounced tannic structure with aromas of black fruits and sometimes spicy notes, and a deep colour that can tend towards violet.
• Cerdon wines are produced by a process of slowing and then halting alcoholic fermentation by cold, retaining fermentable sugars, before bubble formation in bottle lasting at least two months.
• Wines of the Cerdon denomination have a low actual alcoholic strength, generally between 7% and 9%, with a fermentable sugar content of between 22 and 80 grams per litre.

• In the Manicle sector, plots sheltered at the foot of a limestone cliff, on calcareous scree soils, benefit from an excellent water regime and a notably early spring, and Pinot noir wines produced there show a fine tannic structure.
• Low temperatures and long winters caused alcoholic fermentation to halt and then resume with the return of warmer weather, yielding a lightly alcoholic and sparkling wine — a technique refined notably in the Cerdon area.

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

Dénominations géographiques complémentaires

• Bugey Cerdon AOC (PDO)
• Bugey Manicle AOC (PDO)
• Bugey Montagnieu AOC (PDO)

All appellations in France

Sources

• Product specification (BO Agri, PDF)
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — Syndicat des Vins du Bugey