Duché d'Uzès

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The appellation area extends across 86 communes in the Gard department, between Nîmes and Alès, and comprises two contiguous basins: the Lédignan basin to the west and the Uzès basin to the east.
• The Lédignan basin, to the west, is organised around an anticlinal dome of Upper Cretaceous age (Valanginian), whose marly centre has been hollowed out by erosion.
• The Uzès basin, to the east, corresponds to an east–west-oriented syncline formed on Tertiary rocks (Eocene), grading progressively into Miocene marine deposits.
• The zone is bounded to the north by the limestone massif of Lussan, which culminates at Mont Bouquet at 630 metres, and the Gardon river crosses it from northwest to southeast.
• Substrates are predominantly calcareous, and the vineyard is generally established on shallow, stony hillside soils, within an attenuated Mediterranean climate where annual rainfall is around 700 mm, with occasionally heavy autumn rains linked to the Cévennes meteorological effect.

• As early as the fifteenth century, the territory of the Duchy of Uzès already had a record of a quality-oriented vineyard producing noble wines, and despite successive crises the hillside vineyards have remained a constant feature.
• The medieval Christian clergy attached strong symbolic value to the vine, and the bishops of Uzès became winemakers themselves, producing a white wine served as a wine of honour.
• The restructuring of the vineyard has been built around the Mediterranean varieties Syrah and Grenache for reds and rosés, and Grenache blanc and Viognier for whites.

• The red wines range from ruby to garnet with brick-red nuances on ageing, displaying aromas of ripe or candied fruit and liquorice, with a round, balanced tannic structure that lends them cellaring potential.
• The rosé wines, ranging in hue from lychee-pink to coral, are vivid, luminous and clear, with aromas of red fruit; their freshness is determined by the position of the geographical area at the foot of the first foothills of the Cévennes.
• The white wines display a pale gold colour with green highlights and intense notes of peach or apricot, and benefit from a transitional Mediterranean climate that slows ripening and preserves the acidity and balance of the wines.

• Thanks to the first Cévennes foothills, the marked diurnal temperature range allows slow grape ripening, promotes colour development, and preserves acidity and the aromatic expression of the berries.

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 17 décembre 2025
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — Inter Rhône