Appellation
Pic Saint-Loup
Identity card
RegionalAOPRedRosé
Languedoc-Roussillon
Key points
- Red and rosé only: at most 45 hl/ha, at least 12% natural alcohol.
- Reds released from 15 July after the harvest.
- At least 5,500 vines/ha, denser than in the Languedoc AOC.
Grape varieties
Red
Accessory varieties: Cinsaut, Carignan, Counoise (grape entry not yet written), Morrastel (grape entry not yet written) (10% at most of the holding's vines)
Syrah · at least 50% of the holding's vines
At least 2 principal grapes in the vineyard
Syrah at least 50% and accessories at most 10%, in the blend too
Rosé
Accessory varieties: Cinsaut, Counoise (grape entry not yet written), Morrastel (grape entry not yet written), Grenache Gris
Syrah · at least 30% of the holding's vines
Cinsaut · 30% at most of the holding's vines
Counoise, Morrastel, Grenache Gris · 10% at most of the holding's vines
The principal grapes are the majority of the blend
Production rules
45
hl/ha
Maximum yield
12
% ABV
Minimum natural alcohol
5,500
vines/ha
Minimum planting density
Minimum ageing: Reds: until at least 1 July 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. For reference: 35 hl/ha to 80 hl/ha across 69 Oenopia appellations of the same colour.
- 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 12.5 % ABV across 67 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 76 Oenopia appellations of the same colour.
- Minimum ageing
- A minimum ageing period the specification requires before the wine may be sold to consumers.
Terroir
- Lie of the land: Ridges and combes below the Pic Saint-Loup, 80 to 300+ m
- Soils: Alternating soft limestone and marl; black marl
- Climate: Cool for the Languedoc (12.3 °C); 900 to 1,000 mm a year
Wine style
- Red
- Liquorice
- garnet colour
- red fruit
- fine tannins
- elegance, freshness
- Rosé
- medium to pale colour
- fresh, easy-drinking
- small red fruit
Boundaries: INAO, AOC vineyard plot delimitation (September 2026 edition) · Open Licence
Specification
31 January 2017
Arrêté du 31 janvier 2017 homologuant le cahier des charges relatif à l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Pic Saint-Loup » (JORF n°0028 du 2 février 2017, texte n°42 ; BO-Agri n°6 du 9 février 2017), annulé par le Conseil d'État le 12 décembre 2018 en tant seulement qu'il instaurait une aire de proximité immédiate. Reconnue comme AOC autonome par cet arrêté de 2017 ; dénomination de l'AOC Coteaux du Languedoc depuis le 24 décembre 1985.
Labelling terms
- Vintage compulsory on the label
- No grape name on the label
- The label may add the larger geographical unit "Languedoc"
- The name of a registered lieu-dit may appear on the label
Sources
- Official sourceCahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Pic Saint-Loup »— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) / Ministère de l'agriculture
Seventeen communes in the north-east of the Hérault and the neighbouring Gard (fifteen and two), at the foot of the limestone Pic Saint-Loup massif, amid garrigue, Aleppo pines and holm oaks. A named area of the Coteaux du Languedoc from 1985, then of the Languedoc AOC, Pic Saint-Loup has been an appellation in its own right since 2017, for reds and rosés only. Syrah is compulsory, at least half the vineyard for the reds, alongside the two other principal varieties, Grenache and Mourvèdre, in what its specification calls one of the coolest and wettest parts of the Languedoc.
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