Pessac-Léognan

At the request of the winegrowers' unions, the national institute of designations of origin undertook to revise the production area of the Graves AOC, whose delimitation dated back to 1937/1938.

Using recent geological studies, the INAO experts classified in the AOC zone some high quality terroirs which had, for various reasons, been left aside and which came to compensate for the surfaces lost due to urbanization. The economic situation being favorable, some dynamic wine growers had taken advantage of this situation to revive the culture of the vine in a privileged region and, if the number of vineyards had not changed much during these last years, their surface, on the other hand, had considerably increased, thus giving back to the region its aspect of former days.

It is all these considerations that led the INAO to recognize, at the request of the producers of this region, a new appellation of origin, the AOC Pessac-Léognan.

In 1964, the winegrowers of the northern Graves region of Bordeaux had asked the INAO to recognize one or two sub-regional or communal appellations similar to those of the Médoc. They wanted to repair an oversight in the 1937 control decrees.

Their argument was based on several observations. In particular, they argued that

• the Graves region, from Mérignac to La Brède, was the historical cradle, not only of Graves, but also of the Bordeaux vineyard;
• the geology and the microclimate of the northern Graves gave the wines produced there a very particular typicity;
• by tradition, for several centuries, they had always produced red wine alongside a relatively constant volume of white wine. This may not have been the case in the region south of La Brède;
• the methods of managing their vineyards, the traditional techniques of vinification and maturation of their wine produced products that were highly sought after by a clientele that was willing to pay a much higher price for them than in the other sectors of the Graves region;
• during the classification of the Graves crus carried out in 1953 from proposals made by the Graves and Superior Graves wine syndicate and concerning a large number of crus spread over the whole appellation, only those located in the northern part had been retained. Thus, a sort of specificity to this region had already been recognized.

Taking into account these arguments and evaluating them in accordance with its ethics, the INAO, which in matters of AOC relies on loyal, local and constant uses as well as on everything that can demonstrate a real originality, decided to accept them.

Initially, he proposed to the various ministries concerned a "Recognition of Denomination" giving the right to use the term "Graves-Pessac" for the communes of Pessac, Mérignac and Talence, and that of "Graves-Léognan" for those of Léognan, Gradignan, Villenave-d'Ornon, Cadaujac, Martillac and Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans. This situation lasted three years and on September 23, 1987, the INAO recognized a single AOC Pessac-Léognan, whose area of production included the above nine communes to which was added that of Canéjan. We must agree that this region has shown, thanks to its wine growers, an exceptional dynamism. Its ambition to return to the dimensions it had in 1937 during the control decrees is highly commendable.

Today, the vineyard of Pessac-Léognan covers an area of about 1500 hectares. Benefiting from a microclimate, this part of the Graves is home to the most gravelly and typical soils with a remarkable homogeneity.

The Graves combine a mixture of quartz and quartzite ochre, white, red and pink, jasper, flint, lydian ... The variable thickness (20 cm to 3 meters and more) and the layout of the subsoil without real homogeneity create a great diversity of characters and nuances among the great wines of Pessac-Léognan.