Clairette de Bellegarde

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The vineyard sits on a stony plateau covered by alpine diluvium, corresponding to the largest Villafranchian terrace in Europe, formed at the end of the Tertiary and the beginning of the Quaternary.
• The soil, known as 'gress', is fersiallitic and stony in the upper horizon, becoming very clayey at depth, with a good water reserve and rapid warming thanks to the rounded pebbles at the surface.
• The Mediterranean climate provides an average annual sunshine of 2,700 hours as well as a period of summer sub-drought.
• The vineyard is subject to the influence of the Mistral, a cold, dry and often violent north wind blowing from the Rhône Valley, tempered by cool sea breezes coming from the Camargue.
• The Bellegarde terrace is an arid plateau situated at 60 metres of altitude where vines and orchards alternate, the landscape being broken by hedges of cypress trees planted to reduce the force of the Mistral.

• Wines made from the Clairette grape variety have been known and appreciated since the fifteenth century, and a production survey from 1774 already mentions the commune of Bellegarde for the significance of its output.
• The delimited parcel area was established by the Nîmes tribunal on 5 July 1944, before the appellation was recognised by decree on 28 June 1949.
• Around the beginning of the nineteenth century, a survey on the agricultural situation in the Gard indicated that wines made from the Clairette grape variety sold for 90 to 120 francs per muid, compared with 50 francs for an ordinary quality.

• These still, dry white wines display intense floral aromas accompanied by notes of honey or lime blossom, with sometimes a slight bitterness on the finish.
• These wines have a minimum natural alcoholic strength of 11% abv, produced exclusively from the Clairette grape variety.

• The layer of pebbles stores the heat of the day and releases it at night, reinforcing the convection effect and drawing in sea breezes from the Camargue.
• The diurnal temperature range, further increased by this convection effect, preserves freshness and aromatic complexity, while the dry, warm summer climate promotes good berry ripeness.

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 24 octobre 2011, JORF 27 octobre 2011
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — CIVL