Médoc AOC
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Médoc is an
AOC Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of ...
for
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 ...
in the
Bordeaux wine region 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 ...
of southwestern
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 ...
, on the Left Bank of the Gironde estuary that covers the northern section of the
viticultural Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...
strip along the Médoc peninsula. The zone is sometimes called Bas-Médoc ( en, Low-Médoc), though this term is not permitted on any label. With few exceptions there is produced only red wine, and no white wine has the right to be called Médoc. The term Médoc is often used in a geographical sense to refer to the whole Left Bank region, and as defined by the original
Institut National des Appellations d'Origine An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...
(INAO) decree of November 14, 1936, the appellation may be applied to all wine produced in the prescribed zone in the peninsula, but this is rare practice by estates within Médoc's sub-appellations as it carries lesser perceived prestige. Effectively it covers the northern third of the Médoc peninsula, defined by a border that runs from Saint-Yzans and Saint-Germain-d'Esteuil (at the northern edges of Haut-Médoc AOC and
Saint-Estèphe AOC Saint-Estèphe is an ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) for red wine in the Bordeaux region, located in the Médoc subregion. It takes its name from the commune of Saint-Estèphe and is the northernmost of the six communal appellation ...
) in the south, to
Soulac-sur-Mer Soulac-sur-Mer (; oc, Solac de Mar, , ), commonly known as Soulac (''Solac''), is a commune in the department of Gironde, administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (formerly Aquitaine), France. It's a seaside resort on Côte d'Argent, in the ...
in the north, although viticultural activity ends near Vensac. In all sixteen wine-producing communes are exclusive to Médoc, and Bégadan, Saint-Christoly, Ordonnac, Saint-Yzans and Saint Germain d'Esteuil have historically enjoyed a reputation level to communes of the northern Haut-Médoc. Predominantly an area of
cooperatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
today, none of the estates were included in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 2024, although several have been included in the (eventually discontinued) classification Cru Bourgeois.


Overview

The area covers approximately 5,700 hectares of declared vineyards, constituting 34.5% of the Médoc total, annually producing on average 300,000 hectolitres of wine. The soils are Garonne gravel, Pyrenees gravel and clayey limestone with extreme variation in character. There are frequent areas of heavy, clay-rich, moisture-retentive soils better suited for cultivation of the Merlot grape than Cabernet Sauvignon, and vineyards are less densely packed than further south, intermingled with other forms of agriculture. Of the
grape varieties This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...
permitted by INAO in Médoc, 50% of the viticultural area is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and to a lesser extent
Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, ...
and
Malbec Malbec () is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. In France, plantations of Malbec are n ...
(locally called "Côt"). Also allowed within the AOC regulations are the varieties Cabernet Franc and
Carménère The Carménère grape is a wine grape variety originally planted in the Médoc region of Bordeaux, France, where it was used to produce deep red wines and occasionally used for blending purposes in the same manner as Petit Verdot. A member of t ...
. The INAO specifications demand the following production norms: a minimum of sugar, per litre of must, maximum base yield of 50 hecolitres per hectare, and a minimum alcohol by volume of 10%. The regulations also exclude viticultural activity in the communes Carcans,
Hourtin Hourtin (; oc, Hortin, ) is a commune of southwestern France, located in the Gironde department, administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2015: Aquitaine). It is located in the canton Le Sud-Médoc, part of the district of Lesparre- ...
, Brach, Saumos,
Lacanau Lacanau (; oc, label= Gascon, La Canau, ) is a commune in the Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Lacanau is a surfing area. Lacanau is a member of the Community of Municipalities Médoc's Lakes which includes the mu ...
, Le Temple,
Le Porge Le Porge (; oc, Lo Pòrge) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in south-western France. Population See also *Communes of the Gironde department The following is a list of the 535 communes of the Gironde departmen ...
, and on "land of recent alluvium and sand lying on impermeable subsoils".


Estates

Of the 584 viticultural properties of Haut-Médoc, 239 are independent wineries and 345 are in winemaking cooperatives. Four out of five cooperatives belong to the group Unimédoc which ensures aging, bottling and marketing.


Notes and references

a.   '' Cru Bourgeois'' as a term of classification since 1932, was annulled in 2007, and reintroduced in 2009. ;General
Médoc
Bordeaux.com, Le Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB)
Médoc
AOC decree, INAO ;Footnotes Bordeaux AOCs {{Portal bar, Wine, France cs:Médoc AOC