Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The appellation area lies on the right bank of the Garonne, 40 kilometres upstream from Bordeaux, close to Langon on the opposite bank, and spans 10 communes in the Gironde département.
• The climate is temperate, with a moderating influence from the Garonne valley — particularly with regard to the risk of spring frost — across a highly varied relief of hillsides running parallel to the river.
• The underlying bedrock is the astéries limestone of the Oligocene, a Tertiary formation that constitutes the geological foundation beneath the town of Saint-Macaire.
• The ancient terrace, at an altitude of 90 metres, is composed of reddish clayey sands and gravels — vestiges of a paleo-Garonne at the beginning of the Quaternary — and gives rise to stony brown soils well suited to the vine.
• The Agenais molasse, a continental deposit of sandstone and sands with clay layers and gravel beds, yields, depending on its texture, either calcareous clay terreforts suited to white grape varieties or acidic boulbènes less favourable to the vine.
• On the plateaux, hydro-aeolian clay-silt deposits have flowed mainly onto north-facing slopes, forming acidic leached soils with pseudogley, generally occupied by forest.

• Around 1750, the growth of trade with the Netherlands encouraged the ageing of wine in barrels and then in bottles, made possible by the sulphur wick known as the "Dutch match" (allumette hollandaise).
• The controlled designation of origin 'Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire' was recognised by decree of 31 July 1937 for white wines produced in the territory of 10 communes in the canton of Saint-Macaire.
• Saint-Macaire, a river port on the Garonne, became an English royal town in 1341 and prospered in the 13th and 14th centuries through river trade and the 'wine privilege'.

• Sémillon frequently contributes delicate aromas of flowers and white fruits followed by a broad, soft palate, complemented by Sauvignon, Sauvignon gris, and Muscadelle for freshness.
• The sweet wines, obtained through noble rot under the action of Botrytis cinerea during favourable autumns, display great aromatic complexity with notes of citrus, honey, and spice.
• The white wines are classified as dry (fewer than 4 g/l of fermentable sugars), medium-sweet (between 34 and 45 g/l), or sweet (more than 45 g/l, produced from grapes harvested at over-ripeness through successive tries), the latter made without any enrichment and aged at least until 15 March of the year following the harvest for their refinement.

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 12 octobre 2021, JORF 20 octobre 2021
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — CIVB