Montagne-Saint-Émilion is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée

Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...

(AOC) for wine in the Bordeaux wine

Bordeaux wine

A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...

 region of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, where it is situated in the Libourne

Libourne

Libourne is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émilion and Pomerol.-Geography:...

 subregion on the right bank of the Dordogne. It was granted AOC status on 14 November 1936, and the AOC designation granted to the wines which have been harvested on the land of the Montagne

Montagne, Gironde

Montagne is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-See also:*Communes of the Gironde department*Montagne-Saint-Émilion, a wine appellation situated in Montagne...

 commune or in its hamlets, Parsac and Saint-Georges. 1570 hectares (3,879.6 acre) of vine planted areas have belonged to the appellation in 2005, with a production of 74,130 hl.

Montagne-Saint-Émilion only produces red wine, and nearly all of the grape varieties from Bordeaux can be and are used, such as Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

, Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...

, Merlot

Merlot

Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...

, Côt

COT

-Beds:* A camp bed, a simple, temporary and portable bed* A baby's infant bed* See cot side for beds with raised sides-Transportation:* Car of Tomorrow, a new car design by NASCAR* Cottingley railway station, National Rail station code COT...

, etc., although it is Merlot that is used most often.

The vineyard of Montagne can be found northeast of Saint-Émilion

Saint-Émilion

Saint-Émilion is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-History:Saint-Émilion's history goes back to prehistoric times and is a World Heritage site, with fascinating Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets.The Romans planted...

, on the right bank of the Barbonne. It forms part of the "satellites" of the Saint-Émilion vineyard along with the vineyards of Lussac-Saint-Émilion

Lussac-Saint-Émilion

Lussac-Saint-Émilion is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée for red wine situated in the Bordeaux wine region. The appellation is located on the right bank of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers, about from city of Bordeaux or from the medieval village of Saint-Émilion...

, Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion

Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion

Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée for wine in the Bordeaux wine region of France, where it is situated in the Libourne subregion on the right bank of the Dordogne...

 and Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion

Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion

Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée for wine in the Bordeaux wine region of France, where it is situated in the Libourne subregion on the right bank of the Dordogne. It was granted AOC status on 14 November 1936, and the AOC designation granted to the wines which have...

.

The base yield

Yield (wine)

In viticulture, the yield is a measure of the amount of grapes or wine that is produced per unit surface of vineyard, and is therefore a type of crop yield...

 is fixed at 45 hl/hectare with a limit of 20%. Before the chaptalization

Chaptalization

Chaptalization is the process of adding sugar to unfermented grape must in order to increase the alcohol content after fermentation. The technique is named after its developer, the French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal...

 and concentration process, the must (the residue of grapes, after the juice has been extracted) must contain a minimum of 187g/l of natural sugar. After fermentation, the wine must have a minimum alcohol level of 11% vol.

Grape varieties

Traditionally, the wines of Montagne-Saint-Émilion are a collection of different grape varieties. The three main varieties being Merlot, Cabernet Franc (or Bouchet) and Cabernet Sauvignon:

• Merlot - the most dominant grape variety, accounting for 75% of the planted area. It is a variety that ripens early, and needs cool and humid conditions, as well as soil rich in clay. It ripens well and gives wine its colour, a good alcoholic richness, a full bodied texture and is smooth and round on the palette.
• Cabernet Franc - an important element of the Libourne plantations and represents nearly 20% of the vineyards of Saint-Emilion. Of medium precocity, it is grown mostly in chalky or quite warm soils. It gives the wine an aromatic flavour, lightly spiced, with a coolness and tannic structure, giving the wine an aged flavour.
• Cabernet Sauvignon - representing around 5% of the plantations, it is a grape that is particularly adapted to warm and dry soil (gravel, sand, clay or chalky soil). It gives wine a gently spiced flavour, complex with a tannic richness, and favourable to its long and harmonious preservation.

The AOC regulations for Montagne-Saint-Émilion also allows the use of two other grape varieties: the Malbec (or Côt) and the Carmenère

Carmenère

The Carménère grape is a wine grape variety originally planted in the Médoc region of Bordeaux, France, where it was used to produce deep red wines and occasionally used for blending purposes in the same manner as Petit Verdot....

. Only the Malbec grape is still used.