What is made here
Wine colours
Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.
Where it is
Languedoc in France
- Latitude
- 42.4°–44.0° N
- Vineyard altitude
- 13 m to 267 m
- Delimited vineyard land
- 267,161 ha
Contains 21 appellations (outlined on the zone map)
Banyuls, Banyuls grand cru, Collioure, Corbières, Corbières-Boutenac, Côtes du Roussillon, Côtes du Roussillon Villages, Faugères, Fitou, Grand Roussillon, La Clape, Maury, Minervois, Minervois-la-Livinière, Muscat de Lunel, Muscat de Rivesaltes, Muscat de Saint-Jean-de-Minervois, Picpoul de Pinet, Rivesaltes, Saint-Chinian, Terrasses du Larzac
Worked out from the boundaries (smallest container first). Uses the delimited parcels where INAO publishes them.
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 Languedoc must meet.
Blend rules
Languedoc la Méjanelle
- ≥ 75% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 30% Grenache · Main grape
- ≤ 10% cinsaut / morrastel N (each) · Allowed
- – Carignan · Allowed
; release from 1 June of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc Pézenas
- ≥ 70% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≤ 75% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah N (each) · Main grape
- – carignan / cinsaut · Allowed
; release from 1 September of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc Quatourze
- ≥ 70% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≤ 70% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah N (each) · Main grape
- ≥ 40% mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- – carignan / cinsaut / lledoner pelut · Allowed
; release from 1 June of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc Saint-Christol
- ≥ 70% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 20% mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≤ 10% cinsaut / morrastel N (each) · Allowed
- ≤ 10% counoise / piquepoul noir · Allowed
- – Carignan · Allowed
; release from 1 June of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc Saint-Drézéry
- ≥ 70% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 40% mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- – carignan / cinsaut · Allowed
; release from 1 September of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc Saint-Georges-d’Orques
- ≥ 70% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 20% mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 10% Grenache · Main grape
- ≥ 40% grenache / syrah · Main grape
- – carignan / cinsaut · Allowed
; release from 1 July of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc Saint-Saturnin
- ≥ 25% grenache / lledoner pelut · Main grape
- ≥ 20% Syrah · Main grape
- ≤ 10% white accessory varieties (carignan, clairette, grenache, marsanne, roussanne, vermentino B) · Allowed
- – carignan / cinsaut / grenache / mourvèdre · Allowed
; release from 1 September of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc Sommières
- ≥ 70% grenache / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 50% grenache / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 20% Syrah · Main grape
- – carignan / cinsaut · Allowed
; release from 1 December of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc Premier/Nouveau
- ≥ 50% grenache / lledoner pelut / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 20% mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≤ 40% Carignan · Allowed
- ≤ 10% accessory varieties other than carignan N and cinsaut · Allowed
- ≤ 30% white and minor accessory varieties (bourboulenc B … viognier, in the blend) · Allowed
Blend rules
Languedoc Cabrières
- ≥ 45% Cinsaut · Main grape
- ≥ 20% Grenache · Main grape
- ≤ 35% mourvèdre / syrah · Allowed
- ≤ 10% other accessory varieties (bourboulenc, carignan, clairette, grenache blanc, marsanne, morrastel, roussanne, terret blanc, vermentino, viognier B) · Allowed
; release from 1 June of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Languedoc
- ≥ 50% grenache / lledoner pelut / mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≥ 20% mourvèdre / syrah · Main grape
- ≤ 40% Carignan · Allowed
- ≤ 10% accessory varieties other than carignan N and cinsaut · Allowed
- ≤ 30% white and minor accessory varieties (bourboulenc B … viognier, in the blend) · Allowed
Other varieties allowed
Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.
11 varieties · Languedoc, Languedoc Premier/Nouveau
Agiorgitiko, Calabrese, Carignan, Cinsaut, Counoise, Grenache Gris, Marselan, Morrastel, Piquepoul Noir, Rivairenc, Terret Noir
3 varieties · Languedoc Quatourze
5 varieties · Languedoc Saint-Christol
Carignan, Cinsaut, Counoise, Morrastel, Piquepoul Noir
27 varieties · Languedoc, Languedoc Premier/Nouveau
Bourboulenc, Carignan, Carignan Blanc, Carignan Gris, Cinsaut, Clairette, Clairette Rose, Counoise, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Macabeu, Marsanne, Marselan, Morrastel, Piquepoul Blanc, Piquepoul Gris, Piquepoul Noir, Rivairenc, Rivairenc Blanc, Rivairenc Gris, Roussanne, Terret Blanc, Terret Gris, Terret Noir, Tourbat, Vermentino, Viognier
12 varieties · Languedoc Cabrières
Bourboulenc, Carignan, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Morrastel, Mourvèdre, Roussanne, Syrah, Terret Blanc, Vermentino, Viognier
13 varieties · Languedoc
Assyrtiko, Carignan Blanc, Carignan Gris, Clairette Rose, Grenache Gris, Macabeu, Muscat Blanc A Petits Grains, Piquepoul Gris, Rivairenc Blanc, Rivairenc Gris, Terret Blanc, Terret Gris, Viognier
In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine
4,000
Vines per hectare, minimum
Training
Systems allowed
taille courte à coursons; taille Guyot simple (syrah only)
Permitted, with limits
Irrigation
02 · Climate fingerprint
The climate
The growing season averages 18.6 °C, warm on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,834 growing degree days (Winkler III).
The average year 1991–2020, vineyards at about 134 m
Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
- Growing-season temperature
- 18.6 °C
- Warm · 17–19 °C (Jones)
- Growing degree days
- 1,834
- Region III: 1,667–1,943 degree days
- Growing-season rain
- 474 mm
- Of 819 mm a year
- Harvest rain
- 195 mm
- September–October
Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 60 m; Vineyard point 2, 350 m; Vineyard point 3, 90 m; Vineyard point 4, 19 m; Vineyard point 5, 152 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. CortonaVery similarCompared with Languedoc: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. Rosso di MontepulcianoVery similarCompared with Languedoc: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. Vin Santo di MontepulcianoVery similarCompared with Languedoc: same season warmth, similar rain.
Growing-season temperature
Growing degree days
Growing-season rain
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, 195 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
- 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
- Quality wines in Italy and France: a dataset of PDO specifications · figshare 25393261 · CC BY 4.0
- ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
- OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
- Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
- Cahier des charges: Languedoc (Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée Languedoc homologué par l'arrêté du 11 août 2026 (AGRT2607507A) - BO n°34 du 20 août 2026) · Ministère de l'Agriculture (Bulletin officiel), as linked by INAO · Official act
- 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)
- Appellation nesting worked out from boundaries (pipeline/build_nesting.py) · Vinous, from the Eurac PDO boundaries · CC0 (source data)
- Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method
Still to check (3)
- Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
- From the specification: Most varietal proportions apply to the holding's vineyard (encépagement) for each colour; blend rules (at least 2 varieties, one variety at most 65–80% depending on the denomination) are in section IX. 'Grés de Montpellier' and 'Montpeyroux' are in the register but this version of the cahier des charges sets no production rules for them, so their products are empty. Minimum density is 4000 vines/ha for Languedoc, 4400 for Cabrières, Saint-Christol, Saint-Drézéry, Saint-Georges-d'Orques, Saint-Saturnin and Sommières, and 5000 for La Méjanelle. Red wines of the denominations must be aged (élevage) until 15 May (Cabrières, La Méjanelle, Quatourze, Saint-Christol), 15 June (Saint-Georges-d'Orques), 15 August (Pézenas, Saint-Drézéry, Saint-Saturnin) or 15 November (Sommières) of the year after the harvest. Reds with natural alcohol above 14% may have 4 g/l sugar; irrigated parcels have lower maximum loads; denominations ban oak chips and heat treatment above 40°C; young vines enter production later for most denominations (up to the 8th year for carignan in Saint-Drézéry and Saint-Georges-d'Orques).
- National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.