Vinous

AOC · Appellation profile

Marcillac

41,402 haProduction zone
3Wines in the rules
15.5 °CGrowing season · intermediate
IbWinkler region

What is made here

Wine colours

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

Where it is

Marcillac in France

Latitude
44.3°–44.7° N
Vineyard altitude
330 m to 494 m
Delimited vineyard land
4,043 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 Marcillac must meet.

3 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.
After enrichment
max. % alc.
Sugar
max. g/l
Marcillac Fer–60–––––
Marcillac 80% Fer9.5556018010.5132
Marcillac rosé 80% Fer9.5556017510.5134

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

Marcillac

  • 80–100% Fer · Main grape
  • – cabernet sauvignon / merlot / prunelard · Allowed

; release from 1 February of the year after the harvest.

Blend rules

Marcillac rosé

  • 80–100% Fer · Main grape
  • – cabernet sauvignon / merlot / prunelard · Allowed

Other varieties allowed

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

3 varieties · Marcillac, Marcillac, Marcillac rosé

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Prunelard

In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine

4,000
Vines per hectare, minimum
Training
Systems allowed
taille Guyot simple; cordon de Royat
Permitted
Irrigation
Allowed
Enrichment (chaptalisation)

02 · Climate fingerprint

The climate

The growing season averages 15.5 °C, intermediate on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,205 growing degree days (Winkler Ib).

The average year  1991–2020, vineyards at about 452 m

Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
3.7° 98 Jan 4.1° 80 Feb 7.2° 86 Mar 9.9° 107 Apr 13.7° 106 May 17.5° 87 Jun 19.8° 72 Jul 19.7° 85 Aug 15.9° 98 Sep 12.2° 101 Oct 7.3° 107 Nov 4.5° 103 Dec
Growing-season temperature
15.5 °C
Intermediate · 15–17 °C (Jones)
Growing degree days
1,205
Region Ib: 1,111–1,388 degree days
Growing-season rain
657 mm
Of 1,131 mm a year
Harvest rain
200 mm
September–October

Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 406 m; Vineyard point 2, 434 m; Vineyard point 3, 470 m; Vineyard point 4, 471 m; Vineyard point 5, 478 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. Côte RoannaiseVery similarCompared with Marcillac: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. Alsace grand cru FlorimontVery similarCompared with Marcillac: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. Alsace grand cru PfingstbergVery similarCompared with Marcillac: same season warmth, similar rain.

Growing-season temperature

Marcillac
15.5 °C
Côte Roannaise
15.5 °C
Alsace grand cru Florimont
15.5 °C
Alsace grand cru Pfingstberg
15.5 °C

Growing degree days

Marcillac
1,205
Côte Roannaise
1,207
Alsace grand cru Florimont
1,201
Alsace grand cru Pfingstberg
1,201

Growing-season rain

Marcillac
657 mm
Côte Roannaise
640 mm
Alsace grand cru Florimont
676 mm
Alsace grand cru Pfingstberg
680 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, 200 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: Marcillac (Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée Marcillac - BO n°5 du 18 juin 2015) · 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: Red and rosé still wines; the register lists one name, so rosé is a separate product here. Fer must make up at least 90% of the holding's plantings and 80% of the wine. Irrigated parcels are limited to 7,500 kg/ha; terraces are exempt from the density minimum. Rosé follows the general release date in article D. 645-17.
  • National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.