Bergerac AOC

Bergerac is a wine appellation (Appellation d'origine contrôlée, AOC) in South West France and is also a wine growing region encompassing thirteen AOCs (Bergerac sec, Bergerac rosé, Bergerac rouge, Côtes de Bergerac Blanc, Côtes de Bergerac Rouge, Monbazillac, Montravel, Côtes de Montravel, Haute Montravel, Montravel Rouge, Pécharmant, Rosette, and Saussignac.) Bergerac wines are produced around the market town of Bergerac on 93 communes. 1,200 wine growers cultivate an area of 12,300 hectares. 55 percent of winegrowers belong to a cooperative, and 45 percent are independent growers. The wine region produces a total of 650,000 hectoliters (all 13 AOCs included) per year.

Approximately fifteen percent of Bergerac AOC wine is sold outside of France, mainly to Great Britain, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. [www.vins-bergerac.fr]

History

The Bergerac area has produced wines since the thirteenth century, and has exported wines since 1254, when it began shipping its vintages to England based on special privileges granted by Henry III of England. These dispensations gave the Bergerac community the right to assembly, special tax exemptions and the right to ship their wines to Bordeaux unhindered. By the fourteenth century, Bergerac had strictly defined quality standards for its wine growing areas. Despite Bergerac's special privileges, during this period, Bordeaux was known to use its position, downriver and near the mouth of the Garonne river, to give its own wines priority over barrels of Bergerac wines being transported on freight carrying "gabarres" (river barges). However, the Parlement of Guyenne granted Bergerac a charter to transport freely its wines to the Atlantic in 1511. By that time, the Protestant-dominated Bergerac was also trading with Holland and Scandinavia via an overland route. [Dordogne & the Lot, 5th Edition, by Dana Facaros and Michael Paul, 2005]

oil Composition and Grape Varieties

Bergerac wines derive from grape varieties and soil composition similar to those of Bordeaux wines, but typically are less expensive than Bordeaux wines. Reds and rosés are produced from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Côt (Malbec) and whites are produced from Sémillon, Sauvignon blanc, Muscadelle, Ondenc and Chenin Blanc grapes. [www.terroir-france.com]

References