Pessac-Léognan

In the Middle Ages the area was called Las Grabas de Bourdeus, the Graves of Bordeaux. After 1152 the city's "Privilege" protected its town wine, and in the fourteenth century English demand for claret extended the privileged suburb to the limits of today's zone. Between 1531 and 1551 Jean de Pontac assembled the estate of Haut-Brion plot by plot, which the rules describe as the model for the Bordeaux château and the origin of the idea of a "grand cru". In 1855 Haut-Brion was ranked a first growth. Between the early twentieth century and the 1970s the growth of the city destroyed more than 3,000 ha and several hundred estates, leaving 550 ha. Growers led by André Lurton then campaigned for a separate appellation, recognised by decree on 9 September 1987.

Pessac-Léognan covers ten communes on the west and south of Bordeaux: Cadaujac, Canéjan, Gradignan, Léognan, Martillac, Mérignac, Pessac, Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans, Talence and Villenave-d'Ornon. Some estates are surrounded by suburbs. The soils record old courses of the Garonne, which shifted as Pyrenean glaciers melted at the end of the Tertiary and in the Quaternary, dropping material on old sea floors of limestone and shelly falun. Two types result: soils on gravel and rounded pebbles up to three metres thick or more, and soils on clay-limestone, sand and falun over fissured, permeable limestone. The gravel forms well-defined rises with gentle slopes, drained by small Garonne tributaries. The climate is mild and evenly humid, sheltered by the Landes forest to the south and the ocean to the west.

The specification describes reds based mainly on Cabernet Sauvignon, which ripens fully on the gravel and gives deep colour and strong tannin for long ageing, with blackcurrant turning to smoky, spicy, leather and prune notes. Merlot and Cabernet Franc add suppleness and elegance, and barrel ageing rounds the wine. Dry whites, mainly Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, are pale straw, fruity, sappy and nervy when young, then turn golden and develop fine floral notes recalling lime blossom and broom. The rules credit sandier or clay-matrix soils with the whites' finesse and freshness.

Pessac-Léognan makes red and dry white still wines. Whites come from Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon and Muscadelle; reds from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carménère. The rules require at least 6,500 vines per hectare, a base yield of 54 hl/ha and bottling within the zone; plots on recent alluvium, sand or impermeable subsoil are excluded. All 16 Crus Classés de Graves of 1959, about a third of the estates, lie here, led by Château Haut-Brion. Almost all producers sell en primeur through Bordeaux brokers. The specification gave 1,640 ha and 61 producers in 2010, over 80 % red; the Bordeaux wine council gives about 1,880 ha, 86 % red.