Cabardès

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The geographical zone is anchored by the Montagne Noire, dominated by the Pic de Nore at 1,211 metres, with a balcony-like relief sloping gently down towards the Aude valley.
• The geological formations vary from north to south between schists and gneiss of the Primary basement, Tertiary limestone causses, and Tertiary molasses locally covered by Quaternary terraces of the Fresquel.
• The soils are invariably stony but vary according to the parent rock: a clay-sand matrix or granitic arène on siliceous formations, red or marly soils on the limestone causses, and sandy-silty to sandstone soils on the molasses.
• The peri-Mediterranean transitional climate with Atlantic influences displays two gradients: an east–west gradient linked to distance from the Mediterranean and to the Naurouze threshold, which increases cloud cover and lengthens the vine's growing cycle; and a south–north altitudinal gradient from the Fresquel valley towards the Montagne Noire, producing progressively later harvests.
• The summer drought characteristic of the Mediterranean climate is moderated and generally lasts only from 15 July to 10 August on a thirty-year average, allowing the soils to maintain a good water reserve.
• The vineyard is highly exposed to wind, with an average of more than 117 days per year of winds exceeding 55 km/h, whether easterly sea winds or the westerly wind known as the Cers. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)
• The geographical zone extends 20 kilometres in length and 12 kilometres in width, divided into compartments by the streams descending from the Montagne Noire between the Lampy to the east and the hills separating it from the Minervois to the west.

• The vine was introduced by the Romans a century before the common era in Septimania and on the slopes of the Montagne Noire, before a new period of expansion around the year 1000 driven by the Benedictine monks of the Abbaye de Montolieu.
• The Syndicat du Cru « Cabardès » was founded in 1946 by Joseph Génie, and producers developed a grape variety selection combining Atlantic and Mediterranean varieties before the appellation received AOC recognition by decree on 12 February 1999.

• The red wine, which accounts for the bulk of the appellation's production, displays a deep colour with aromas of dark or candied fruit and liquorice notes evolving towards leather.
• The rosé wine often shows a light and luminous colour, with red-fruit aromas on the nose and a supple palate balanced between roundness and freshness, finishing on a fruity note.

• The climate, at once oceanic and Mediterranean and benefiting from an altitudinal gradient, allows producers to combine Atlantic and Mediterranean grape varieties, each finding the conditions for optimal cultivation, an interplay that expresses itself in the distinctive character of the wines.

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), JORF 13 septembre 2016
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — CIVL