Sainte Croix du Mont faces Sauternes on the slopes of the opposite bank of the river. It has a microclimate that promotes noble rot and its wines have the fruitiness, sweetness and elegance of a great dessert wine.
Complex & intense
The Sainte-Croix-du-Mont captivate with their aromas of raisins, fig, acacia, honeysuckle, apricot and peach.
In the mouth, they are livelier than their neighbour and have a more airy and expansive side. They are powerful, complex and intense with a long finish. As with all great dessert wines of the region, they have a good potential for aging.
Here, the Sémillon grape variety (85% of vines planted) finds ideal conditions to produce good dessert wines. As in Sauternes, the grapes are gathered in successive selective harvests.
Hills warmed by the sun
Next to Loupiac and facing Sauternes and Barsac, this AOC occupies a strategic location for producing fine Bordeaux dessert wines, where the Garonne and Ciron rivers meet. Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, 50 km southwest of Bordeaux, is a magnificent village perched on a hillside that overlooks the river.
Composed of clay and limestone, the soils of these sometimes steep hillsides have massive outcroppings of pure limestone. These layers of limestone are often found in the winegrowing soils of the region, but usually at greater depths. These limestone banks are precious for growing vines, particularly for the Sémillon and Sauvignon grape varieties that appreciate clay-limestone soil. Their slow ripening in autumn is aided by an absence of thunderstorms, which follow a more northerly track. The grapes flourish in this wonderful terroir and over ripen to produce dessert wines.
A maximum yield of 40 hL/ha is imposed by the INAO (National Institute of Appellations of Controlled Origin). The vines often produce yields below this limit because the grapes tend to wither when they are over ripened.
Average yearly production: 12 732 hl
Declared surface (2009): 381 ha
Visit the Sainte-Croix-du-Mont AOC’s web site.
