Médoc

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• Tertiary soils result from a succession of argillaceous-calcareous layers formed during the Tertiary era, occurring either as massive beds such as the one known as 'Listrac' or as outcrops at the Couquèques anticline.
• During the Quaternary, glacial alternations created residual hillocks of Garonne or glacial gravels — ranging in size from small pellets to large pebbles — arising from a phenomenon of relief inversion.
• The relief is shaped into rounded ridges known as 'cos', formed by the erosion and incision of the Garonne riverbed and its tributaries, locally called 'esteys' and 'jalles', during the glacial periods.
• The geographical zone extends across 50 communes in the Gironde department, on the left bank of the Garonne and then the Gironde, forming a viticultural strip nearly 80 kilometres long from north to south and around ten kilometres wide from east to west.
• The oceanic climate of the riverine façade is characterised by moderated seasonal fluctuations and measured rainfall, thanks to the thermal regulating effect of the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Gironde estuary to the east.
• The viticultural relief is gently undulating, ranging between 3 and 50 metres in altitude, bounded to the west by forest and to the east by the Gironde estuary, with gravel ridges delimited by the 'jalles'.

• After the Great Frost of 1709, new plantings for red wines were made exclusively with small-berried varieties: Carmenère, Cabernet franc, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cot and Merlot.
• The appellation d'origine contrôlée 'Médoc' was recognised by decree on 14 November 1936, and the February 1956 frosts reinforced the abandonment of certain previously cultivated plots.

• The red wines are tannic, deeply coloured, and structured primarily around Cabernet-Sauvignon blended with Merlot, and to a lesser extent with Cabernet franc and Petit Verdot.
• Cabernet-Sauvignon, the traditional variety, lends the wines spiced notes, while Merlot in the blend brings roundness, suppleness and red-fruit aromas.
• The white wines, fresh and mineral, golden in colour, develop aromas of exotic fruits and a fine length on the palate, thanks to Muscadelle, Sémillon, Sauvignon and Sauvignon gris.
• The white wines display an ageing potential of up to ten years, while the red wines show excellent ageing capacity.

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 31 juillet 2025, JORF 5 août 2025
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — Conseil des Vins du Médoc