Vinous

AOC · Appellation profile

Clairette du Languedoc

15,909 haProduction zone
4Wines in the rules
18.4 °CGrowing season · warm
IIIWinkler region

What is made here

Wine colours

Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.

Where it is

Clairette du Languedoc in France

Latitude
43.5°–43.7° N
Vineyard altitude
34 m to 207 m
Delimited vineyard land
8,439 ha

The delimited vineyard parcels themselves, so the shape is patchy: only land within them may grow the wine. Boundary: INAO parcel delimitation (Licence Ouverte); nearby parcels drawn as one block, with less detail for larger appellations. Country outlines: Natural Earth. Dots on the zone map are the vineyard points used for climate.

Showing every colour The colour filter changes the rules and grapes. Climate, vintages and soils describe the vineyards, so they stay the same.

01 · What the law says

The rules

Limits on grapes, yields, ripeness and ageing that every wine labelled Clairette du Languedoc must meet.

4 wines in the rules, all colours.
WineMain grape(s)Max yield
t/ha
Max wine
hl/ha
Yield ceiling
hl/ha
Grape sugar
min. g/l
Grape ripeness
min. % pot. alc.
Wine
min. % alc.
Actual alc.
min. %
Sugar
max. g/l
Clairette du Languedoc (white) Clairette–60––––––
Clairette du Languedoc 100% Clairette10506020412––45
Clairette du Languedoc Rancio 100% Clairette10506023814––45
Clairette du Languedoc vin de liqueur 100% Clairette105060221–21.51740

From the official production rules (cahier des charges). Hover a figure to see the clause it comes from. A dash means the rules set no figure, or it is not captured yet.

In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine

4,000
Vines per hectare, minimum
Training
Systems allowed
taille courte à coursons
Permitted
Irrigation
Not allowed
Enrichment (chaptalisation)

02 · Climate fingerprint

The climate

The growing season averages 18.4 °C, warm on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,804 growing degree days (Winkler III).

The average year  1991–2020, vineyards at about 133 m

Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
6.3° 93 Jan 6.8° 63 Feb 9.7° 75 Mar 12.4° 96 Apr 16.1° 86 May 20.5° 47 Jun 23.2° 29 Jul 23.0° 46 Aug 18.9° 124 Sep 14.7° 181 Oct 10.0° 147 Nov 7.1° 100 Dec
Growing-season temperature
18.4 °C
Warm · 17–19 °C (Jones)
Growing degree days
1,804
Region III: 1,667–1,943 degree days
Growing-season rain
608 mm
Of 1,086 mm a year
Harvest rain
305 mm
September–October

Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 172 m; Vineyard point 2, 289 m; Vineyard point 3, 74 m; Vineyard point 4, 55 m; Vineyard point 5, 75 m), moved to each point's height from the model's terrain. Indices that need daily data are not captured yet. How the climate figures are made.

Lower confidence:Monthly reanalysis in moderately complex terrain; not yet checked against a weather station.

Closest climates in the database

Picked by the data, not by hand: the profiles nearest on season warmth (counted twice), degree days, rain, ripening-month nights and day–night range. Neighbours within 30 km are left out, as they share the same weather.

1. Ortrugo dei Colli PiacentiniVery similarCompared with Clairette du Languedoc: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. GalluccioVery similarCompared with Clairette du Languedoc: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. Cisterna d'AstiVery similarCompared with Clairette du Languedoc: same season warmth, similar rain.

Growing-season temperature

Clairette du Languedoc
18.4 °C
Ortrugo dei Colli Piacentini
18.3 °C
Galluccio
18.4 °C
Cisterna d'Asti
18.4 °C

Growing degree days

Clairette du Languedoc
1,804
Ortrugo dei Colli Piacentini
1,787
Galluccio
1,799
Cisterna d'Asti
1,797

Growing-season rain

Clairette du Languedoc
608 mm
Ortrugo dei Colli Piacentini
604 mm
Galluccio
579 mm
Cisterna d'Asti
570 mm

03 · Year by year

35 vintages

Each column is one growing season: heat above or below the 1991–2020 average, and rain at harvest. Pick a year for the details.

Warmer than averageCooler than averageHarvest rain (Sep–Oct)Average harvest rain, 305 mm
2025
Growing-season temp.
Growing degree days
Harvest rain
Growing-season rain
September nights
Hot days and frosts

Seasons are labelled by harvest year (April–October). Year-to-year changes from ERA5-Land; tested against station records in Alto Adige (r = 0.94 for season temperature at Bolzano). Rain varies more locally, so treat single-season rain with some caution. Vintage ratings, harvest dates and frost or hail events have places in the data model but are not loaded yet.

04 · Where the numbers come from

Sources

  1. A geospatial inventory of regulatory information for wine protected designations of origin in Europe · Candiago et al., Scientific Data 9, 394 (2022); Eurac Research · CC0
  2. Quality wines in Italy and France: a dataset of PDO specifications · figshare 25393261 · CC BY 4.0
  3. ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
  4. OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
  5. Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
  6. Cahier des charges: Clairette du Languedoc (Cahier des charges relatifs aux appellations d’origines contrôlées suivantes (en lien, décret d’homologation paru au JORF) : Clairette du Languedoc, Corton, Côt) · Ministère de l'Agriculture (Bulletin officiel), as linked by INAO · Official act
  7. Délimitation parcellaire des AOC viticoles de l'INAO · Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO), via data.gouv.fr · Licence Ouverte / Open Licence (Etalab)
  8. Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method
Still to check (3)
  • Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
  • From the specification: The register lists only 'Clairette du Languedoc'; the vin de liqueur and the 'Rancio' mention (over-ripe grapes, élevage until at least 15 October of the third year after the harvest) are governed separately and added as products. Vins de liqueur are muted with neutral grape spirit (5–8% of must volume in pure alcohol) and irrigation is prohibited for them; the commune name may be added to the appellation name.
  • National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.