Haut-Médoc

In Antiquity the area was shared between the Medulli in the north and the Bituriges Vivisques, founders of Burdigala, in the south. At the end of the Hundred Years' War, in the mid-fifteenth century, vineyards lined the river road and the Levade, the old central road of the Médoc. From the sixteenth century nobles of Bordeaux and the Médoc built farm estates called maines and then bourdieux, forerunners of the Médoc château. The success of the "New French Clarets" in the eighteenth century led to the clearing of heathland and a steady spread of vines on gravel, by then identified as the best soil. In the twentieth century the growing city took back vineyard land on its edge. The appellation was recognised on 14 November 1936, and the frosts of February 1956 confirmed the abandonment of some marginal plots.

The Haut-Médoc runs about 50 km from Le Taillan-Médoc, on the edge of Bordeaux, to Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne, and is barely more than 10 km wide. "Haut" means upstream: these 28 communes lie higher up the Gironde, towards the city, within the Médoc appellation area. Tertiary clay-limestone beds, such as the Listrac limestone, form the base. Quaternary gravel from the Garonne and Dordogne, from small pebbles to large stones, lies over them in successive terraces, which erosion and streams have cut into pronounced rises (cos). The relief is low, 3–50 m, bounded by forest to the west, the river and estuary to the east and the city to the south. Compared with the north of the peninsula, the estuary front has smaller seasonal swings and moderate rain.

The specification describes deeply coloured, tannic wines in which Cabernet Sauvignon often leads and Merlot plays a smaller part than in Médoc. Cabernet Sauvignon gives spicy notes, which blend with vanilla where barrel ageing is used, more often here than in Médoc; Merlot adds roundness, suppleness and red fruit, and Petit Verdot freshness in very ripe years. The rules record how growers matched grapes to soils: Cabernet Sauvignon on deep gravel, Merlot on colluvium, Carménère on poor, dry gravel, Cabernet Franc on limestone outcrops or dry sand, Malbec on dry sand and Petit Verdot on well-developed brown soils. Long macerations and ageing make wines for keeping.

Haut-Médoc is a red-wine appellation from 28 communes. The grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carménère, plus the adaptation varieties Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan and Touriga Nacional, which together may not exceed 5 % of an estate. The base yield is 55 hl/ha. The 2025 rules admit only producers who are certified organic or hold an approved environmental certification. The six communal appellations lie inside the area, but their wines are sold under their own names. The specification counts five 1855 classified growths within the Haut-Médoc appellation itself, and 153 of the 444 Crus Bourgeois of 1932.