Cotes du Forez

The Loire wine-growing region. The Côtes du Forez wine region is located in the lower right corner of the map.

The Côtes du Forez wine-growing region is located near the municipalities of Boën and Montbrison, about 40 km northeast of Saint-Étienne on the upper reaches of the Loire in central France. The wine-growing region belongs to the large Loire wine-growing region .

A vineyard in the area was first mentioned in 980 in the writings of the Savigny Monastery. Other vineyards are mentioned in the 11th century. The wines were then made for the parishes belonging to Cluny Abbey and the Count of Forez . Without ever becoming famous, viticulture developed well up to the phylloxera disaster; in 1885, 5,043 hectares of vineyards were known.

It was not until 1932 that some of the remaining winemakers agreed on a quality program to safeguard viticulture. Côtes du Forez was classified as VDQS on January 23, 1956 and finally as Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC for short) on February 23, 2000 .

The vineyards currently cover 168 of a total of 1700 hectares of vineyards in 17 communities (as of 2008). The areas are located at an altitude of 390-560 m above sea level. NN in the foothills of the Massif Central . They essentially cover the flanks of the extinct volcanoes Montaubourg and Pics de Marcille-le-Châtel .

The dry red and rose wines are sorted from the grape variety Gamay grapes. The harvest restriction is 55 hectoliters / hectare. The minimum alcohol content is a low 9 percent by volume and must not exceed 12.5% in the case of chaptalization .

The wines should be drunk young. The ideal drinking temperature for rosé wines is 10 ° C, while for red wines it should be 15–16 ° C.

Approved municipalities

Arthun , Boën-sur-Lignon , Bussy-Albieux , Champdieu , Ecotay-l'Olme , Leigneux , Lézigneux , Marcilly-le-Châtel , Marcoux , Moingt-Montbrison , Pralong , Saint-Germain-Laval , Saint-Georges-Haute- Ville , Saint-Sixte , Saint-Thomas-la-Garde , Sainte-Agathe-la-Bouteresse and Trelins .

literature

• Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon . 3. Edition. Gräfe and Unzer Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8338-0691-9 .
• Pierre Galet : Cépages et Vignobles de France . Lavoisier Publishing House, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7430-0585-8 .
• Benoît France (ed.): Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France . Solar publishing house, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-263-03242-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le guide Hachette des vins 2010 , ISBN 978-2-01-237514-7 , p. 1032.