Cérons

Cérons, a small town on the banks of the Garonne, 35 kilometres upstream from Bordeaux, with a prestigious wine-growing past, has given its name to the Cérons appellation of origin.

A military and commercial stopover, "Sirione" (Cérons) is the only place mentioned, under the Emperor Caracalla (211-217), on the Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus and on the Peutinger Table (1465-1547). The reason for this mention is the existence of a ford during low tides, but probably also the importance and fame of its vineyards.

At the end of the 16th century and until the 18th century, being part of the royal provostry of Barsac, Cérons shipped its wines through the compulsory port of the jurisdiction.

In the 19th century, the famous broker Paguierre, in his work entitled Classification et description des vins de Bordeaux et des cépages particuliers au département de la Gironde, noted that the wines of Cérons "are distinguished by a lovely sap and a rich flavour which contributes greatly to their pleasure; they are firm and very mellow...".

In 1935, at the time of the institution of the appellations of controlled origin, this privileged site, formed by the vast plateau which includes the communes of Cérons, Podensac and Illats, although included in the Graves region, can, according to loyal and constant usage, benefit from the AOC Graves for red and white wines, Graves Supérieures for whites, but also from the AOC Cérons for sweet white wines.

Moreover, as Pierre Celestin indicates in his 1932 book Les Appellations d'Origine Bordelaise: "there has never been any dispute over this delimitation, which is more than one hundred years old, which is why no judicial delimitation has had to be carried out."

"It is therefore a white wine appellation whose age cannot be contested and which applies to well-defined plots of land in the communes of Cérons and Podensac, eight-tenths of whose vineyards belong to owners from Cérons, and the commune of Illats, which forms the Haut-Cérons plateau."

Geologically, this region, as much by the soil as by the subsoil, is similar to that of the Graves and the Sauternais. It is a very pleasant region, essentially consisting of a vast plateau and a few ridges separated by valleys through which some streams flow peacefully, bordered by meadows and crops.

The properties are fragmented and sometimes partially planted with acacia woods. However, a few owners, having realised that this was an excellent terroir, have reconstituted fairly large groups. Most of them, following the disaffection of consumers for sweet white wines, produce dry white wines and red wines that can benefit from the Graves appellation. From 1970 to 1976, the declarations of harvests in AOC Cérons reached an average of 15 000 hectolitres per year. Today, this represents an average volume of only 2500 hectolitres. It can be said that currently about 80% of the white wines produced in the Cérons region are dry white wines, sometimes semi-sweet, declared and marketed under the Graves and Graves supérieures appellations.

Despite the obstinacy of some producers, aware of the value of this production and the reputation of this wine, the AOC Cérons does not seem to be able to regain market share. This seems to us not only regrettable, but detrimental to this region.

The soil is made up of a more or less deep siliceous gravel composed of sometimes very large pebbles, gravel and coarse sand; in some places, it is clayey-gravelly or even sandy. Depending on the area, the subsoil may be gravelly or made up of sand agglomerated by iron oxide, but it is essentially limestone, as can be seen from the scars left by formerly exploited quarries. In some places, it is sometimes clayey.

This siliceous-gravelly soil, with a subsoil that is most often chalky clay-stone, is a vineyard land par excellence. The wines produced are therefore almost always quality wines.