Vinous

AOC · Appellation profile

Côtes de Duras

19,311 haProduction zone
7Wines in the rules
17.7 °CGrowing season · warm
IIWinkler region

What is made here

Wine colours

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

Where it is

Côtes de Duras in France

Latitude
44.6°–44.8° N
Vineyard altitude
87 m to 148 m
Delimited vineyard land
11,215 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 Côtes de Duras must meet.

7 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.
Actual alc.
min. %
After enrichment
max. % alc.
Sugar
max. g/l
Côtes de Duras Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec +1–66––––––
Côtes de Duras Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec +1–66––––––
Côtes de Duras cabernet franc / cabernet sauvignon / cot / merlot10556618010.5–133
Côtes de Duras Secs Chenin Blanc, Mauzac, Muscadelle +4–72––––––
Côtes de Duras Secs 50% chenin / mauzac / muscadelle / ondenc / sauvignon / sauvignon gris / sémillon10607217010.5–133
Côtes de Duras rosé 50% cabernet franc / cabernet sauvignon / cot / merlot10556618010.5–133
Côtes de Duras blanc 50% chenin / mauzac / muscadelle / ondenc / sauvignon / sauvignon gris / sémillon8.5506618511.510.514–

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.

Blend rules

Côtes de Duras Secs

  • ≥ 50% chenin / mauzac / muscadelle / ondenc / sauvignon / sauvignon gris / sémillon · Main grape
  • ≤ 25% colombard / ugni blanc · Allowed
  • ≤ 10% Colombard · Allowed

Blend rules

Côtes de Duras rosé

  • ≥ 50% cabernet franc / cabernet sauvignon / cot / merlot · Main grape
  • ≤ 20% muscadelle / sauvignon / sauvignon gris / sémillon · Allowed

Blend rules

Côtes de Duras blanc

  • ≥ 50% chenin / mauzac / muscadelle / ondenc / sauvignon / sauvignon gris / sémillon · Main grape
  • ≤ 25% colombard / ugni blanc · Allowed
  • ≤ 10% Colombard · Allowed

Other varieties allowed

Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.

4 varieties · Côtes de Duras

Muscadelle, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Semillon

2 varieties · Côtes de Duras, Côtes de Duras Secs, Côtes de Duras Secs

Colombard, Ugni Blanc

In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine

4,000
Vines per hectare, minimum
Training
Systems allowed
taille Guyot simple; taille Guyot double; cordon de Royat; éventail; taille à longs bois (astes)
Prohibited
Irrigation
Allowed
Enrichment (chaptalisation)

02 · Climate fingerprint

The climate

The growing season averages 17.7 °C, warm on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,656 growing degree days (Winkler II).

The average year  1991–2020, vineyards at about 102 m

Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
6.0° 71 Jan 6.5° 53 Feb 9.6° 58 Mar 12.2° 78 Apr 15.9° 77 May 19.4° 66 Jun 21.6° 51 Jul 21.8° 58 Aug 18.5° 60 Sep 14.6° 67 Oct 9.5° 78 Nov 6.7° 74 Dec
Growing-season temperature
17.7 °C
Warm · 17–19 °C (Jones)
Growing degree days
1,656
Region II: 1,389–1,666 degree days
Growing-season rain
456 mm
Of 790 mm a year
Harvest rain
127 mm
September–October

Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 93 m; Vineyard point 2, 99 m; Vineyard point 3, 93 m; Vineyard point 4, 98 m; Vineyard point 5, 126 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.

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. Crémant de BordeauxVery similarCompared with Côtes de Duras: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. Saint-Georges-Saint-EmilionVery similarCompared with Côtes de Duras: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. Lussac Saint-EmilionVery similarCompared with Côtes de Duras: same season warmth, similar rain.

Growing-season temperature

Côtes de Duras
17.7 °C
Crémant de Bordeaux
17.7 °C
Saint-Georges-Saint-Emilion
17.7 °C
Lussac Saint-Emilion
17.7 °C

Growing degree days

Côtes de Duras
1,656
Crémant de Bordeaux
1,656
Saint-Georges-Saint-Emilion
1,648
Lussac Saint-Emilion
1,648

Growing-season rain

Côtes de Duras
456 mm
Crémant de Bordeaux
455 mm
Saint-Georges-Saint-Emilion
456 mm
Lussac Saint-Emilion
455 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, 127 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: Côtes de Duras (Cahier des charges de l’appellation d’origine contrôlée Côtes de Duras, homologué par arrêté du 28 juillet 2025 (AGRT2512971A) - BO n°32 du 7 août 2025) · 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's 'Côtes de Duras' covers red, rosé and non-dry white, so it is recorded as the red and rosé and white (over 12 g/l sugar) are added. Dry-white vineyards may be planted at 3300–4000 vines/ha (the yield table's figures for that case are not legible in the text); accessory grapes in whites are capped at 25% of the vineyard and no more than the sauvignon share, and in rosé at 20% (at most 10% sauvignon and 10% muscadelle).
  • National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.