Côtes de Gascogne is a wine-growing district in Gascony

Gascony

Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...

 producing principally white wine. It is mainly located in the département of the Gers

Gers

The Gers is a department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River.Inhabitants are called les Gersois or Gersoises.-History:...

 in the French region Midi-Pyrénées

Midi-Pyrénées

Midi-Pyrénées is the largest region of metropolitan France by area, larger than the Netherlands or Denmark.Midi-Pyrénées has no historical or geographical unity...

, and it belongs to the wine region South West France

South West France (wine region)

South West France or in French Sud-Ouest, is a wine region in France covering several wine-producing areas situated respectively inland from, and south of, the wine region of Bordeaux...

. The designation Côtes the Gascogne is used for a Vin de Pays

Vin de pays

Vin de pays is a French term meaning "country wine". Vins de pays are a step in the French wine classification which is above the table wine classification, but below the VDQS and Appellation d'origine contrôlée classifications...

("country wine") produced in the Armagnac

Armagnac (region)

The hilly countship of Armagnac , in the foothills of the Pyrenées between the Adour and Garonne rivers, is a historic countship of the Duchy of Gascony, established in 601 in Aquitaine...

 area. The decree of the 13th of September 1968 created the difference between a Vin de Pays and simpler table wine, the so-called Vin de table. The designation Côtes de Gascogne obliges the producers to respect the stricter rules and production standards, which were adopted with the decree of the 25th of January 1982.

Association of producers

The Association of Producers of the Vins de Pays Côtes de Gascogne was founded on 15 March 1979, it protects the interests of the members, determines the production standards and is controlling the respect of these rules. The association counts on this moment approximately 1,400 wine farmers. Of them 1,300 are member of cooperative cellars, the so-called ’’caves coopératives’’ is.

Furthermore there, are 150 independently working wine farmers, who produce their wines themselves.

Production

With a permitted production quantity of 830,000 hectoliters per year, the Gers is France's largest producer of white Vin de Pays, with a production potential of more than 100 millions bottles per year, of which 75% are for export.

In the Gers the production volumes are more or less as follows: 91% white wine, 8% is red and 1% rosé wine. This is very atypical for the southwest of France, because in neighbouring departments mainly red wine is produced.

Rules for wine

Only red, rosé and white wine.
Only wines from the defined area.

Types of grape types for red and rosé wine:

Abouriou

Abouriou

Abouriou is a red wine grape grown primarily in South West France and, in small quantities, in California. It is a blending grape that along with Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Fer, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Gamay is used to make the French wine Côtes du Marmandais...

, 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...

, 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...

, Duras

Duras (grape)

Duras is a traditional French variety of red wine grape that is mostly grown around the Tarn River, northeast of Toulouse. It is usually blended with other traditional varieties, but production has been declining in recent years....

, Fer

Fer

Fer is a red French wine grape variety that is grown primarily in South West France and is most notable for its role in the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée wines of Gaillac, Marcillac and Béarn but can also be found as minor component in the wines of Madiran, Cabardès and Bergerac...

, Négrette

Négrette

Négrette is a dark red wine grape grown primarily in South West France in the region between Albi and Toulouse. It is a direct descendant of Mavro rootstock, a grape variety cultivated extensively on the island of Cyprus.-Wine regions:...

, Portugias bleu

Blauer Portugieser

Blauer Portugieser is a red Austrian and German wine grape found primarily in the Rheinhessen, Pfalz and wine regions of Lower Austria. It is also one of the permitted grapes in the Hungarian wine Egri Bikavér . In Germany, the cultivated area covered or 4.5% of the total vineyard area in 2007...

, Malbec

Malbec

Malbec is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are long known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. The French plantations of Malbec are now found primarily in Cahors in the South West...

, Tannat

Tannat

Tannat is a red wine grape, historically grown in South West France in the Madiran AOC and is now one of the most prominent grapes in Uruguay, where it is considered the "national grape". It is also grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Peru, and in Italy's Puglia region where it is used as a...

.

Types of grape types for white wine:

Colombard

Colombard

Colombard is an early fruiting white variety of wine grape, better known as French Colombard in North America. It is possibly the offspring of Gouais Blanc and Chenin Blanc....

, Petit and Gros Manseng, Len de l'El

Len de l'El

Len de l'El is a white French wine grape variety native to South West France...

, Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...

, Sémillon

Sémillon

Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia.-History:The origin of the Sémillon grape is hard to determine. It is known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 19th century and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent...

, Muscadelle

Muscadelle

Muscadelle is a white wine grape variety. It has a simple aroma of grape juice and raisins like grapes of the Muscat family of grapes, but it is unrelated....

, Ugni Blanc.

Production region

The Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée-région Côtes de Gascogne, Armagnac

Armagnac (drink)

Armagnac is a distinctive kind of brandy or eau de vie produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of Armagnac grapes, including Baco 22A, Colombard, and Ugni Blanc, using column stills rather than the pot stills used in the...

 and Floc de Gascogne

Floc de Gascogne

The Floc de Gascogne is a regional apéritif from the Côtes de Gascogne and Armagnac regions of Sud-Ouest wine region of France. It is a vin de liqueur fortified with armagnac, the local brandy...

 (a local aperitif) are identical. The three Armagnac sub-regions Armagnac-Ténarèze

Armagnac-Ténarèze

Armagnac-Ténarèze, one of the three terroirs in the Armagnac region where grapes for the distillation of the Armagnac eau-de-vie can be cultivated. This area lies between Bas-Armagnac and Haut-Armagnac, covering the northwestern part of the department of Gers and the southern part of Lot-et-Garonne...

, Bas-Armagnac

Bas-Armagnac

Bas-Armagnac is one of the three plantation areas in the Armagnac area where grapes for the distillation of the Armagnac eau-de-vie can be cultivated. It extends over the Landes and Gers departments and represents 57% of the vineyards. It lies in the west, beside Armagnac-Ténarèze, an undulating...

 and Haut-Armagnac

Haut-Armagnac

Haut-Armagnac, one of the three terroirs in the Armagnac area where the grapes for the distillation of the Armagnac eau-de-vie can be cultivated...

 form in a way the Côtes de Gascogne.

The region is mainly in the Gers

Gers

The Gers is a department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River.Inhabitants are called les Gersois or Gersoises.-History:...

 where two thirds of the vineyards, nearly 12 thousand hectares is used for the production of the Côtes de Gascogne wines.

In Gers

Gers

The Gers is a department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River.Inhabitants are called les Gersois or Gersoises.-History:...

 the cantons: Auch

Auch

Auch is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Midi-Pyrénées, it is the capital of the Gers department. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony.-The Ausci:...

, Cazaubon

Cazaubon

Cazaubon is a commune in the Gers department of southwestern France.Besides the town of Cazaubon itself, the commune includes the adjacent spa town of Barbotan-les-Thermes.-Population:-References:*...

, Condom

Condom, Gers

Condom , also referred to as Condom-en-Armagnac, is a commune in southwestern France in the department of Gers, of which it is a subprefecture.-Way of St. James:...

, Fleurance

Fleurance

Fleurance is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...

, Jegun

Jegun

Jegun is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-History:The village was founded in the 11th century and fortified around 1180 by Bernard IV, count of Armagnac...

, Lectoure

Lectoure

Lectoure is a commune in the Gers department in the Midi-Pyrénées in southwestern France.It is located north of Auch, the capital of the department, south of Agen and approximately northwest of Toulouse.-History:...

, Montesquiou

Montesquiou

Montesquiou is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.The village of Montesquiou is the historical seat of the Montesquiou-Fezensac family.-Population:-References:*...

, Montréal

Montréal, Gers

Montréal is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.It lies not far from Castelnau-d'Auzan.-Geography:...

, Nogaro

Nogaro

Nogaro is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...

, Riscle

Riscle

Riscle is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...

, Plaisance

Plaisance, Gers

Plaisance is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Population:...

, Aignan

Aignan, Gers

Aignan is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Population:...

, Valence-sur-Baïse

Valence-sur-Baïse

Valence-sur-Baïse is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...

, Vic-Fezensac

Vic-Fezensac

Vic-Fezensac is commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.-Geography:The Auzoue flows north through the western part of the commune and forms most of its north-western border....

.

The Appellation d’origine contrôlée was in 2005 extended with the Armagnac

Armagnac (drink)

Armagnac is a distinctive kind of brandy or eau de vie produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of Armagnac grapes, including Baco 22A, Colombard, and Ugni Blanc, using column stills rather than the pot stills used in the...

 vineyards laying in twenty-five municipalities in the Bas-Armagnac which are in the department Landes and fourteen other municipalities in the Armagnac-Ténarèze which are in Lot-et-Garonne

Lot-et-Garonne

Lot-et-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Lot and Garonne rivers.-History:Lot-et-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

. The total surface of Côtes de Gascogne thus arrives at 15 thousand hectares.

Climate

The Atlantic ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

although far away behind Les Landes still has influence, further spring is rather wet and it is sunny in the rest of the year.

External links

• Syndicat des Côtes de Gascogne