Chalosse (; oc-gsc, Shalòssa or ) is a wine-growing area in
Gascony, in south-west
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. It lies in the ''departement'' of
Landes and is centred on the town of
Dax.
Chalosse also gives its name to ''coteaux de Chalosse'', the wine of the area, and is used to describe both the
Ondenc
Ondenc is a white French wine grape found predominantly in the Gaillac region of southwest France. In the 19th century, it was a popular planting in Bordeaux but fell out of favor following the phylloxera epidemic due to poor yields and sens ...
and the
Graisse varieties of grape.
Location
Chalosse is located in the foothills of the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
, around the valleys of the river
Louts and the river
Luy, both left tributaries of the river
Adour.
The region is bounded by the Adour and the
Pays de Marsan to the north, the river
Gabas and the
Tursan to the east and by the region of
Béarn to the south.
The neighbouring ''
terroir
(, ; from ''terre'', "land") is a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these contex ...
s'' are L'Orient (west), Pays de Marsan (north), Tursan (east), and Bearn (south).
The main town is Dax, to the west of the region. Other important towns are
Pomarez and
Montfort-en-Chalosse
Montfort-en-Chalosse (, literally ''Montfort in Chalosse''; oc-gsc, Monhòrt de Shalòssa) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France.
Population
Politics
Between 2001 and 2014, Françoise Dartigue-Pe ...
.
Viticulture
Chalosse is a wine-growing region, and it gives its name to a number of grape varieties.
Ondenc
Ondenc is a white French wine grape found predominantly in the Gaillac region of southwest France. In the 19th century, it was a popular planting in Bordeaux but fell out of favor following the phylloxera epidemic due to poor yields and sens ...
and
Graisse are both known as Chalosse; it is also used as a synonym for
Claverie (Chalosse blanche),
Fer (Chalosse noir) and
Meslier-Saint-François
Meslier-Saint-François is a white French wine grape variety that is now grown predominantly in the Loir-et-Cher department of the Loire Valley (wine), Loire Valley. Historically, the grape was found more widely throughout the Loire and western F ...
(Chalosse de Bordeaux).
Chalosse Noire can also refer to a number of black grape varieties.
References
*D Faracos, M Pauls (1995, updated 2004) ''Gascony and The Pyrenees'': Cadogan
External links
Landes Chalosse(Fr)
Pays Adour, Chalosse, Tursan (fr)
{{Coord, 43.6932, N, 0.7300, W, source:wikidata, display=title
Wine regions of France