Appellation
Rivesaltes
Identity card
AOPFortified
Languedoc-Roussillon · Recognised on 6 August 1936
- Village
- Regional
Key points
- Mutage: neutral wine spirit (≥ 96% ABV), 5 to 10% of the must as pure alcohol.
- Musts of at least 252 g/l of sugar; at most 30 hl of must per ha.
- Finished wine: at least 15% actual alcohol and 45 g/l of sugars.
Grape varieties
Fortified
Grenache NoirGrenache GrisGrenache BlancMacabeuTourbat
Accessory varieties: Muscat à Petits Grains, Muscat of Alexandria (20% at most of the holding's vines)
Muscat à Petits Grains, Muscat of Alexandria · 20% at most of the blend
Grenat: Grenache Noir alone
Ambré: one or more principal varieties; tuilé: likewise, Grenache Noir compulsory
Production rules
Minimum ageing: Grenat: 30 April of the following year; ambré, tuilé: 31 August of the 2nd year
- Minimum ageing
- A minimum ageing period the specification requires before the wine may be sold to consumers.
Terroir
- Lie of the land: An amphitheatre open to the sea; western limit near 300 m
- Soils: Rounded pebbles, clay-limestone, schist, sands
- Climate: Tramontane 1 day in 3; 500–650 mm a year; moderating sea
Wine style
- rosé: red fruit, fresh
- grenat: fruit, spice
- ambré, tuilé: oxidative
- rancio: walnut, roasting
Boundaries: INAO, AOC vineyard plot delimitation (September 2026 edition) · Open Licence
Specification
14 June 2023
Order of 14 June 2023 approving the specification of the AOC “Rivesaltes” (JORF no. 0140 of 18 June 2023, text no. 12; published in the Bulletin officiel of the Ministry of Agriculture, BO no. 27 of 6 July 2023). Appellation first recognised by the decree of 6 August 1936.
Labelling terms
- One compulsory term: ambré, grenat, rosé or tuilé
- "Hors d'âge": aged until at least 31 August of the 5th year after the harvest
- "Rancio": an ambré or tuilé that has developed a rancio taste
- The term "vin doux naturel" is compulsory; vintage for grenat and rosé
- Rosé bottled in glass by 31 December of the following year at the latest
Nearby appellations
Sources
- Official sourceCahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Rivesaltes »— Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) / Ministère de l'agriculture
A vin doux naturel made in 85 communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales and 9 of the Aude, in the amphitheatre that opens onto the Mediterranean between the Canigou, the Albères and the Corbières. Fortified mid-fermentation with neutral wine spirit, it always carries one of four terms — ambré, grenat, rosé or tuilé — depending on the varieties and on the ageing, oxidative or shielded from air. Recognised in 1936, the name has gathered three vin doux naturel appellations since 1972; Muscat de Rivesaltes is a separate appellation.
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Rivesaltes
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