Appellation
Faugères
Identity card
RegionalAOPRedRoséWhite
Languedoc-Roussillon · Recognised on 5 May 1982
Key points
- Red and white 45 hl/ha, rosé 50 at most; at least 12% natural alcohol.
- Reds: at least 2 days' maceration, traditional or carbonic.
- Dry-stone walls and domed "capitelles" mark the landscape.
Grape varieties
RedRosé
Grenache NoirLledoner PelutMourvèdreSyrah
Accessory varieties: Cinsaut (20% at most of the holding's vines)
Grenache Noir, Lledoner Pelut, Mourvèdre, Syrah · at least 50% of the holding's vines
Grenache Noir, Lledoner Pelut · at least 20% of the holding's vines
Syrah · at least 15% of the holding's vines
Mourvèdre · at least 5% of the holding's vines
Carignan · 10 to 40% of the holding's vines
At least 2 grapes incl. a principal; none above 80% of the blend
White
Grenache BlancMarsanneRoussanneVermentino
Accessory varieties: Clairette, Viognier (10% at most of the holding's vines)
Roussanne · at least 30% of the holding's vines
At least 2 principal grapes, Roussanne included; each at most 70% of vines
Production rules
12
% ABV
Minimum natural alcohol
4,000
vines/ha
Minimum planting density
Minimum ageing: Until 15 February (reds) or 31 January (whites) of the following year
- Minimum natural alcohol
- The alcohol the grapes' own sugar must be able to give, without enrichment: a ripeness threshold at harvest. For reference: 9 % ABV to 14 % ABV across 79 Oenopia appellations of the same colour.
- 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 136 Oenopia appellations of the same colour.
- Minimum ageing
- A minimum ageing period the specification requires before the wine may be sold to consumers.
Terroir
- Soils: Visean schist only; soils often acid and poor
- Lie of the land: Hills and valleys at 100 to 350 m, below the Avant-Monts
- Aspect: South to south-east, shielded from the north; < 700 mm/year
Wine style
Boundaries: INAO, AOC vineyard plot delimitation (September 2026 edition) · Open Licence
Specification
6 December 2011
Décret n° 2011-1802 du 6 décembre 2011 relatif à l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Faugères » (JORF n°0284 du 8 décembre 2011, page 20752, texte n°28 ; cahier des charges publié au BO n°49 du 9 décembre 2011). Appellation initialement reconnue par le décret du 5 mai 1982.
Nearby appellations
Sources
- Official sourceCahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Faugères »— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) / Ministère de l'agriculture
Seven communes of the Hérault, about 25 km north of Béziers, on hills set against the last slopes of the Massif Central. The delimited plots all lie on schist, between 100 and 350 metres up, in a landscape of garrigue, dry-stone walls and domed dry-stone huts called "capitelles". The appellation, recognised in 1982, makes mainly red blends of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Carignan, along with rosés and a few whites in which Roussanne is compulsory.
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Faugères
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