Médoc

The specification links the name to the Medulli, the Gallic people of the area, who knew Roman wine; the Bordeaux wine council says the name is said to come from the Latin in medio aquae, "in the middle of the water". In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries vines grew mainly around lordships and church foundations. In the seventeenth century the estuary marshes were drained, with Dutch engineers according to the council, city money arrived, and in 1647 the Jurade of Bordeaux issued the first ranking of Guyenne wines, in which Médoc parishes were already known. After the Great Winter of 1709, and in the fashion for "New French Clarets", owners planted the gravel with small-berried varieties. White wine dates from at least the early eighteenth century; it reached more than 16,000 hl in 1929 before falling to 1,800 hl in 1969. The appellation was recognised on 14 November 1936.

The Médoc appellation stretches about 80 km from north to south along the left bank of the Garonne and the Gironde, is barely more than 10 km wide and covers 50 communes, between forest to the west and the estuary to the east, at 3–50 m. Marine Tertiary limestones and clays form the base, in massive beds such as the Listrac limestone or pushed up in the Couquèques anticline. During the Quaternary ice ages the Garonne and Dordogne spread gravel over them, from small "dragée" to large pebbles. Relief inversion by erosion, and the cutting of stream beds (jalles and esteys), left low gravel rises called cos, separated by marshy ground without vines. The estuary front has small seasonal swings and rain that is very moderate for an Atlantic climate; the north is less warm than the south of the peninsula but receives less rain.

The specification describes the reds as deeply coloured and tannic, built mainly on Cabernet Sauvignon, the grape of choice on gravel, which brings spicy notes. Merlot, sought for its fruit, adds roundness and red fruit and, when it leads, brings on mature aromas sooner. Cabernet Franc is grown mainly on limestone soils and Petit Verdot on warm, free-draining ground, where it adds freshness. The reds age very well. The whites are fresh, mineral and golden, with exotic fruit, and acacia or apricot when Sémillon leads; clay-limestone gives them power and minerality, and gravel finesse. The rules give them up to ten years' ageing potential.

Any commune of the peninsula can make Médoc, and the southern communes also have the Haut-Médoc and communal appellations. The Bordeaux wine council notes that red Médoc comes mainly from the north, where farms long mixed vines with cattle and forestry. Cabernet Sauvignon usually dominates, with Merlot and sometimes Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot. The base yield is 55 hl/ha.

White wine has a long history here. The rules date Médoc whites to at least the early eighteenth century; until the 1960s some were sold as Graves. White wine is now allowed under the Médoc name from Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon and Muscadelle, and the council dates the first such wines to 2025. The 1855 classification and the 1932 Crus Bourgeois list both rank Médoc estates. Since 2019 much of the landscape has been a regional natural park.