Appellation
Clairette du Languedoc
Identity card
AOPWhiteFortified
Languedoc-Roussillon · Recognised on 28 September 1948
- Village
- Regional
Key points
- A single grape, Clairette, for every wine.
- Dry or medium-sweet whites: at most 45 g/l of sugars after fermentation.
- Rancio: at least three years' ageing, brown colour, fresh walnut.
Grape varieties
Production rules
4,000
vines/ha
Minimum planting density
White
50
hl/ha
Maximum yield
12
% ABV
Minimum natural alcohol
Minimum ageing: Rancio: at least until 15 October of the 3rd year after the harvest
- Minimum planting density
- The fewest vines allowed per hectare. For the same yield, more vines means fewer grapes on each. For reference: 4,000 vines/ha to 9,000 vines/ha across 126 Oenopia appellations of the same colour.
- 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 ageing
- A minimum ageing period the specification requires before the wine may be sold to consumers.
Terroir
- Lie of the land: Hérault river terraces, schist slopes of Cabrières
- Soils: Stony terraces, Miocene limestone, schist
- Climate: Mediterranean; 500 to 800 mm a year by sector
Wine style
- White
- dry: usually citrus
- bitter touch on the finish
- medium-sweet: smooth attack
- rancio: fresh walnut
- Fortified
- smooth and long
- jammy fruit
- dried fruit
Boundaries: INAO, AOC vineyard plot delimitation (September 2026 edition) · Open Licence
Specification
26 October 2011
Decree no. 2011-1389 of 26 October 2011 on the AOC “Clairette du Languedoc” (JORF no. 0252 of 29 October 2011, text no. 49); specification published in BO agri no. 44 of 4 November 2011. Appellation first recognised by the decree of 28 September 1948.
Labelling terms
- The name of the commune the grapes come from may follow the appellation
- "Rancio": overripe grapes, at least 14% natural alcohol
- Vin de liqueur: fortified while fermenting, at least 17% actual alcohol
Nearby appellations
Sources
- Official sourceCahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Clairette du Languedoc »— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) / Ministère de l'agriculture
An appellation of eleven communes in the centre of the Hérault, from the terraces of the Hérault river to the schist slopes of Cabrières. All its wines come from the Clairette grape alone: still whites, dry or medium-sweet, and white vins de liqueur, fortified during fermentation. The term "Rancio" marks whites from overripe grapes, aged for at least three years, which turn brown and take on an aroma of fresh walnut.
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Clairette du Languedoc
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