Haute Vallée de l'Orb

France · PGI · Languedoc · 31 INAO commune(s)

Styles

Natural factors

The area is surrounded by named mountain ranges, with the Espinouse and the Caroux peaking at 1,065 m to the north and the Avants-Monts at 753 m to the south, with the Monts d'Orb and the Escandorgue to the east and west.
Three valleys following the main fault lines — the Orb, the Mare, and the Jaur — cut through the mountains of this area, which lies on the Cévennes geological fracture zone in the southern part of the Massif Central.
Seven pedological landscape units have been identified, including plateaus on volcanic formations, hills on metamorphic substrates, slopes on sandstone and marl, the Ruffes du Lodévois, calcareous plateaus and hills, recent colluvial plains, and acidic sandstones.
The climate is a tempered Mediterranean mesoclimate with annual rainfall of between 800 and 1,200 mm, and the vineyards are situated in a cool to cold zone receiving fewer than 1,350 °C of active heat accumulation during the growing season.
Warm days alternate with cool nights throughout the entire development and ripening cycle of the grape, and this diurnal temperature range allows both thorough ripening and the preservation of aromas and acidity.

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

About this boundary · approximate area

Approximate area — the union of the 31 commune(s) of the delimited area (INAO); no parcel delimitation exists for this denomination.