Appellation
Sauternes
Identity card
VillageAOPSweet
Bordeaux · Recognised on 30 September 1936
- Village
- Regional
Key points
- Overripe, nobly rotten grapes, hand-picked in successive passes.
- At least 15% natural alcohol, at most 25 hl/ha, at least 45 g/l of sugar.
- Five communes: Barsac, Bommes, Fargues, Preignac and Sauternes.
Grape varieties
Sweet
Allowed varieties
SémillonSauvignon BlancMuscadelle
A fourth variety on the list, on an equal footing: Sauvignon Gris
Production rules
25
hl/ha
Maximum yield
15
% ABV
Minimum natural alcohol
6,500
vines/ha
Minimum planting density
Minimum ageing: At least until 15 March of the year after the harvest
- Maximum yield
- How much wine a hectare may produce under the appellation (a higher, exceptional ceiling often exists). The lower it is, the less can be made: one of the levers on how concentrated the grapes are.
- Minimum natural alcohol
- The alcohol the grapes' own sugar must be able to give, without enrichment: a ripeness threshold at harvest.
- Minimum planting density
- The fewest vines allowed per hectare. For the same yield, more vines means fewer grapes on each.
- Minimum ageing
- A minimum ageing period the specification requires before the wine may be sold to consumers.
Terroir
- Soils: Gravel and sand mounds over a limestone base
- Water: Mists where the Ciron meets the Garonne
- Climate: Damp nights, breezy days: noble rot sets in
Wine style
- golden young, amber with age
- candied fruit, honey
- citrus, toasty notes
- rich and unctuous
- very long-lived
Boundaries: INAO, AOC vineyard plot delimitation (September 2026 edition) · Open Licence
Within this appellation
Specification
25 March 2026
Arrêté du 25 mars 2026 homologuant le cahier des charges de l'AOC « Sauternes » (NOR AGRT2604356A, JORF n°0074 du 27 mars 2026, texte n°18), qui abroge l'arrêté du 12 octobre 2021.
Nearby appellations
Sources
- Official sourceArrêté du 25 mars 2026 homologuant le cahier des charges de l'AOC « Sauternes »— Légifrance — Journal officiel de la République française
- Reference bookThe Oxford Companion to Wine— Oxford University Press
- Official sourceLe classement GCC 1855 par appellation — Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855— Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 (Médoc & Sauternes)
- Official sourceDélimitation parcellaire des AOC viticoles de l'INAO (jeu de données ouvert)— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) / data.gouv.fr
- Trade bodyVins de Bordeaux — site officiel du Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux— Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB)
An appellation of sweet white wines on the Garonne's left bank, some forty kilometres south-east of Bordeaux, Sauternes owes its existence to a meeting of rivers: the cold, forest-fed Ciron flows into the warmer Garonne and lays down the autumn morning mists in which Botrytis cinerea develops. The shrivelled, botrytised grapes are picked by hand in successive passes, one row revisited again and again. The area covers five communes, Barsac among them, which also has an appellation of its own.
Classifications
The Official Bordeaux Wine Classification of 1855 — Sauternes and Barsac
| Tier | Estate | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Superior First Growth | Château d'Yquem | 1855 |
| First Growths | Château La Tour Blanche | 1855 |
| First Growths | Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey | 1855 |
| Second Growths | Château d'Arche | 1855 |
| Second Growths | Château Filhot | 1855 |
| Second Growths | Château de Malle | 1855 |
| Second Growths | Château Romer | 1855 |
| Second Growths | Château Romer du Hayot | 1855 |
| Second Growths | Château Lamothe | 1855 |
| Second Growths | Château Lamothe Guignard | 1855 |
| First Growths | Clos Haut-Peyraguey | 1855 |
| First Growths | Château de Rayne Vigneau | 1855 |
| First Growths | Château Suduiraut | 1855 |
| First Growths | Château Guiraud | 1855 |
| First Growths | Château Rieussec | 1855 |
| First Growths | Château Rabaud-Promis | 1855 |
| First Growths | Château Sigalas Rabaud | 1855 |
Mini-challenge
Sauternes
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