The Médoc (; oc, label=
Gascon, Medòc ) is a region of
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 ...
, well known as a
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
growing region, located in the ''
département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...
'' of
Gironde, on the left bank of the
Gironde estuary, north of
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
. Its name comes from ''(
Pagus
In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...
) Medullicus'', or "country of the ''
Medulli
The Medulli (Gaulish: ''Medulloi'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper valley of Maurienne, around present-day Modane (Savoie), during the Iron Age and Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Medullorum'' by Vitruvius (late 1st c. BC) ...
''", the local
Celtic tribe. The region owes its economic success mainly to the production of red wine; it is home to around 1,500
vineyard
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...
s.
The area also has pine forests and long sandy beaches. The Médoc's geography is not ideal for wine growing, with its proximity to the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
resulting in a comparatively mild climate and high rainfall making grape rot a constant problem. It is generally believed that the nature of the region's wine derives from the soil; although the terrain is flat, excellent drainage is a necessity and the increased amount of gravel in the soil allows heat to be retained, encouraging ripening, and extensive root systems.
Viticulture
With the exception of
Château Haut-Brion
Château Haut-Brion () is a French wine, rated a ''Premier Grand Cru Classé'' ( First Great Growth), produced in Pessac just outside the city of Bordeaux. It differs from the other wines on the list in its geographic location in the north of ...
from
Graves
A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...
, all of the red wines in the
1855 Classification are from the Médoc. Many of the Médoc wines that are not in this classification were classified using the
Cru Bourgeois system until 2007. Following legal challenges this category was abolished, and reintroduced in 2010 as an annual "mark of quality" depending on independent annual assessment.
See also
*
Bordeaux wine regions
The wine regions of Bordeaux are a large number of wine growing areas, differing widely in size and sometimes overlapping, which lie within the overarching wine region of Bordeaux, centred on the city of Bordeaux and covering the whole area of the ...
External links
Médoc The Wine DoctorVisit MédocAbout MédocFrench-English guide book to enotourism in Médoc
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medoc
Geography of Gironde
Nouvelle-Aquitaine region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia