Marcillac

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The vineyard extends across the Vallon de Marcillac, a depression lying between the Ségalas to the south and west and the Causse Comtal, a vast calcareous plateau of secondary-era origin, to the east.
• The Dourdou and its tributaries have cut deeply into the causse, exposing a primary-era bedrock of Permian sandstones known locally as the «rougiers de Marcillac», coloured deep violet-red by their high iron oxide content.
• These rougier sandstones served as the building material for the valley's villages, giving them a distinctive character, and the vine parcels are planted on the best-exposed slopes of the valleys, which are often steep.
• The soils of the hillsides follow one another from clay-limestone over the calcareous plateau, to colluvial calcareous gravels over rougiers, and to more or less acidic soils developed directly on rougiers, while the valley floors display poorly developed soils of colluvial or alluvial origin.
• The climate combines an oceanic influence carried by westerly and south-westerly winds, with rainfall peaks in May and October, hot and dry summers with average maximum temperatures of 25°C in July and August, and the hot, dry Autan wind from the south-east, whose influence extends into the valley.

• The Marcillac vineyard was developed in the tenth century by the monks of the Abbaye de Conques, and the abbey's cartulary records vines in the Vallon de Marcillac from 918 to 1027.
• On 18 December 1961, 120 winegrowing farmers gathered at the Marcillac town hall and formed the Syndicat de défense et d'amélioration des vins de qualité de la région de Marcillac, leading to official recognition in 1965.
• Around 1970, terraces following the contour lines were laid out on the steepest hillsides in order to mechanise work in the parcels, with the flat portion most often planted with two rows of vines.
• The winegrowers of Marcillac turned at an early stage to the Mansois variety, also known as Saumansois — the local Occitan name for the fer grape — which, according to the 1978 expert report, still accounts for virtually the entire vineyard.

• The red wines display an intense red colour with violet highlights, and a nose often dominated by red-fruit aromas and spicy notes.
• On the palate, the red wines show a fine acidity that supports well-present but non-aggressive tannins, with good ageing potential, developing aromas of liquorice or cocoa over time.
• The rosé wines offer a more or less deep raspberry-red colour, with fruity aromas and a pleasant freshness.
• The wines are made from the fer variety alone, or from a blend in which the proportion of fer is equal to or greater than 80%.

• The Autan wind can blow strongly in early autumn, drying out the harvest and limiting fungal disease pressure, thereby promoting good ripeness in the grapes.

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 juin 2015
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — IVSO — Interprofession des Vins du Sud-Ouest