South West France (wine region)

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For other uses, see South West France.
South West France
Wine region
Official nameSud-Ouest
TypeRegion
CountryFrance
Sub-regionsDordogne river areas, Garonne river areas, Gascony, Basque Country
Size of planted vineyards16,000 ha

South West France, or in

wine region in France covering several wine-producing areas situated respectively inland from, and south of, the wine region of Bordeaux.[1] These areas, which have a total of 16,000 hectares (40,000 acres) of vineyards, consist of several discontinuous wine "islands" throughout the Aquitaine region (where Bordeaux region itself is situated), and more or less to the west of the Midi-Pyrénées
region.

Thus, South West France covers both the upstream areas around the rivers

Mediterranean are included in the region, with the city of Toulouse being situated roughly halfway between the South West wine region and the Languedoc-Roussillon
wine region on the Mediterranean.

The brandy-producing region

Vin de Pays under the designation Vin de Pays de Côtes de Gascogne or mixed with Armagnac to produce the mistelle Floc de Gascogne
.

South West France is a rather heterogeneous region in terms of its wines and how they are marketed. It is rare to see wines being sold as Vins du Sud-Ouest. Rather, the smaller areas and individual appellations market their wines under their own (smaller) umbrella, in contrast with common practice in e.g. the Bordeaux region.

The areas closest to Bordeaux produce wines in a style similar to those of Bordeaux, and largely from the same grape varieties. Further south, wines are still rather similar to those of Bordeaux, but several grape varieties not used in Bordeaux are common, such as Tannat. Finally, in the areas closest to the Pyrenees, wines are made from local varieties, such as Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng.

History

The south-west region was first cultivated by the

police des vins, were established which regulated the use of the port of Bordeaux for wine trading. The police des vins stated that no wine could be traded out of Bordeaux until the majority of Bordelais wine had already been sold. This had a devastating effect on the wine industry of the High Country with barrels of wines being stranded at Bordeaux warehouses for several weeks or months before they could be sold at much lower prices due to that year's market already being saturated with wine. In many years another vintage would actually take place before the "High Country" wines were sold.[3]

Appellations in South West France

Map of South West France with the various appellations of the region.

South West France includes the following

VDQS
) designations.

Dordogne/Bergerac, subregion

Garonne subregion

  • Brulhois AOC
  • Buzet AOC
  • Cahors AOC
  • Côtes de Duras AOC
  • Côtes du Marmandais AOC
  • Fronton AOC
  • Gaillac AOC
  • Marcillac AOC
  • Coteaux du Quercy VDQS
  • Côtes de Millau VDQS
  • Saint-Sardos VDQS
  • Vins de Lavilledieu VDQS
  • Vins d'Entraygues et du Fel VDQS
  • Vins d'Estaing VDQS

Gascony and Pyrenean subregions

Gascony lands are close to the Adour river, Béarn and Basque lands are closer to the Pyrenees

Gascony lands

  • Saint-Mont VDQS
  • Tursan VDQS

Gascony and Béarn lands

  • Madiran AOC
  • Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh AOC
  • Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec AOC

Béarn lands

Basque Country land

Common grape varieties

The following grape varieties are commonly found in at least one sub-region or appellation of South West France.

See also

References

  1. ^ Terroir-France: South West Wine Information, accessed on February 23, 2008
  2. ISBN 1-84000-332-4
  3. ISBN 0-671-68702-6

External links

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