Pessac-Léognan

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The appellation area is located in the northern part of the Graves vineyard, on the left bank of the Garonne, and covers the territory of 10 communes in the Gironde département.
• The gravel soils or water-rolled pebbles bear witness to the ancient courses of the Garonne, shaped by successive meltwaters from the Pyrenean glaciers, with a depth that can reach three metres and more.
• Other soils have developed over calcareous clays, sands, and faluns, resting on a fissured and permeable limestone bedrock.
• The gently undulating relief forms well-defined gravel ridges in the landscape, whose gentle slopes ensure natural drainage facilitated by a hydrographic network of small tributaries of the Garonne.
• The temperate climate with regular humidity benefits from the thermoregulatory protection of the Landes forest of the Gironde to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

• Between 1531 and 1551, Jean de Pontac assembled the Haut-Brion estate parcel by parcel, foreshadowing the great Bordeaux château and giving rise to the notion of the grand cru.
• The Graves vineyard lost, within the area of the future Pessac-Léognan appellation, more than 3,000 hectares and several hundred crus between the early twentieth century and the 1970s, retaining only 550 hectares by that date.
• The controlled designation of origin Pessac-Léognan was recognised by decree on 9 September 1987, in the manner of the communal appellations of the Médoc.

• Red wines produced mainly from Cabernet Sauvignon are deeply coloured and of powerful tannic structure, capable of ageing for very many years.
• With time, the complex aromas, frequently showing notes of blackcurrant, often evolve towards smoky, spiced, leather, and prune notes.
• When young, dry white wines based on Sauvignon and Sémillon are a fairly pale straw yellow in colour, fruity, sappy, and lively.
• With the years, the whites slowly deepen to gold and develop very fine aromas of a floral character, sometimes recalling lime blossom and broom.

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 10 décembre 2024 publié au JORF du 12 décembre 2024, JORF 12 décembre 2024
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — Syndicat Viticole de Pessac-Léognan