Corbières (wine region)

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Corbières
Vignobles midi new-de.svg
Year of establishment: 1985
Country: France
Cultivation climate: Mediterranean
Soil types: Clay, slate, lime, gravel, sandstone and marl
Planted acreage: 10400 ha.
Grape varieties: Carignan, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Lledoner Pelut, Cinsault, Bourboulenc, Grenache Blanc, Maccabeu, Clairette, Marsanne, Roussanne, Rolle or Vermentino, Terre Blanc, Picquepoul, Muscat
Wine quantity: 400,000 hl / 50 million bottles

The AOC Corbières is an official wine-growing region in Languedoc . It is in large part coincide with the eponymous Mediterranean mountain range Corbières , located on the department of Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales extends. The designation of origin Corbières has had the status of an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC for short) since December 24, 1985 and covers around 14,400 hectares of vineyards. The Corbieres wines are grown in red , rosé and white . The AOC Corbières growing area partially overlaps other official growing areas. For example, in the Corbières maritimes, the AOC Fitou (wine) and the AOC Corbières overlap at times , whereby it should be noted that the AOC Fitou (wine) is the higher-quality AOC.

description

The Corbières produce a good one percent of French wine production. While mainly inexpensive table and country wines were produced up until the 1980s, a trend towards better and more expensive wines has been discernible since then. The most important grape varieties are Carignan , Grenache and Syrah (red wine varieties). While in the past wine was mainly produced in winegrowers' cooperatives (cave coopératives), the trend is now clearly towards individual wineries / winemakers who market their wine themselves. This is also associated with a significant increase in quality. This is particularly visible to the customer through the more informative labeling of the bottles. While with simple country or table wine only the region and the winegrowers' cooperative are noted, with quality wine more information is shown on the label, for example name of the winery, grape variety, alcohol content, quality level (AOC, Vin de pays d'oc, Vin Doux Naturel , and so on).

Grape varieties

In general, an upper yield limit of 50 hectoliters / hectare applies in the Corbières wine-growing region.

red wine

Approx. 87% red wine is produced in the Corbières appellation. Approved grape varieties are Carignan , Grenache , Lledoner Pelut , Mourvèdre , Piquepoul Noir , Terret Noir , Syrah and Cinsault .

The combined share of Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache and Lledoner pelut has been at least 50% since 2003. Cinsault's stake was limited to a maximum of 20%.

The minimum alcohol content is 11.5% by volume.

White wine

Permitted main varieties are Bourboulenc (called Malvoisie here), Grenache Blanc , Macabeo (called Macabeu here), Marsanne blanche , Roussanne and Vermentino (called Rolle here). The combined share of the secondary varieties Clairette Blanche , Muscat blanc à petits grains , Piquepoul Blanc and Terret Blanc or Terret Gris must not exceed 10%.

The minimum alcohol content is 11.0% by volume.

Rose wine

Permitted varieties are Carignan, Grenache, Lledoner pelut, Mourvèdre, Piquepoul Noir, Terret Noir, Syrah, Cinsault and all grape varieties permitted for white wine from Corbières. The proportion of the Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Lledoner pelut and Piquepoul Noir varieties together represent at least 25% of the mixed rate.

  • The combined share of Carignan and Terret Noir is a maximum of 50%.
  • The combined share of the white varieties must not exceed 10% in total.

The minimum alcohol content is 11.0% by volume.

area

The arid landscape of the Corbières
Wine-growing in the Corbières, in the background the Aguilar castle ruins

The wine-growing region extends from the hills of the Corbières approx. 50 km inland (near Carcassonne ) to Narbonne on the Mediterranean coast. This large area with 87 municipalities is divided into 11 subzones due to the heterogeneous conditions. These subzones are:

  • Boutenac
  • Durban
  • Fontfroide
  • Lagrasse
  • Lézignan
  • Montagne d'Alaric
  • Saint-Victor
  • Serviès
  • Sigean
  • Termenès
  • Quéribus

There are specific considerations about the definitive division of the Corbières into several appellations.

In the arid area , mostly at about 400–500 meters above sea level, with less fertile limestone soils, viticulture is the only agricultural source of income. Every year around 660,000 hectoliters of wine are produced.

Approved municipalities

The 87 municipalities are in the Aude department . The municipalities of Albas , Arquettes-en-Val , Bages , Barbaira , Bizanet , Boutenac , Camplong-d'Aude , Canet-d'Aude , Capendu , Cascastel-des-Corbières , Caunettes-en-Val , Caves , Comignes , Conilhac , Coustouge , Cruscades , Cucugnan , Davejean , Dernacueillette , Douzens , Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse , Durban-Corbières , embres-et-castelmaure , Escales , Fabrezan , félines-termenès , Ferrals-les-Corbières , Feuilla , Fitou , Floure , Fontcouverte , Fontiès-d'Aude , Fontjoncouse , Fraissé-des-Corbières , Gruissan , Jonquières , Labastide-en-Val , Lagrasse , La Palme , Laroque-de-Fa , Leucate , Lézignan-Corbières , Luc-sur-Orbieu , Maironnes , Maisons , Montbrun-des-Corbières , Montgaillard , Montirat , Montlaur , Montredon , Montséret , Monze , Moux , Narbonne , Névian , Ornaisons , Padern , Palairac , Paziols , Peyriac-de-Mer , Port-la-Nouvelle , Portel-des -Corbières , Pradelles-en-Val , Quintillan , Ribaute , Rieux-en-Val , Roquefort-des-Corbières , Rouffiac-des-Corbières , Saint-André-de-Roquelongue , Saint-Jean-de-Barrou , Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse , Saint-Pierre-des-Champs , Servies-en-Val , Sigean , Talairan , Taurize , Termes , Thézan -des-Corbières , Tournissan , Treilles , Tuchan , Villar-en-Val , Vignevieille , Villeneuve-les-Corbières , Villerouge-Termenès , Villesèque-des-Corbières , Villetritouls .

literature

  • Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon . 2nd Edition. Hallwag , Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7742-0914-6 (886 pages, English: The Oxford companion to wine . Translated by Wolfgang Kissel).
  • Pierre Galet: Cépages et Vignobles de France . Lavoisier Publishing House, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7430-0585-8 .
  • Benoît France: Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France . Éditions SOLAR publishing house, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-263-03242-8 .