Saint-Estèphe, Gironde
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Saint-Estèphe (; oc-gsc, Sent Estèfe) is a
commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
in the Gironde department in
Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...
in southwestern
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.


Geography

The village lies northwest of
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
.


Population


Wine

Saint-Estèphe is best known as the northernmost, and one of the four major wine-growing
appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...
s of the Médoc. The area is separated from Château Lafite-Rothschild in
Pauillac Pauillac (; oc, Paulhac) is a municipality in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The city is mid-way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, along the Gironde, the largest estuary in western Europe. Populati ...
to the south by the Jalle de Breuil stream and its
vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...
s cover around on the banks of the Gironde estuary. The grounds of St.-Estèphe are varied centered in Château Phélan-Ségur. To the south-east corner of the appellation area, they are similar to those of Pauillac, with deep gravels lying on a hard sandstone base. Progressively to the west and north, they get more clayey, less gravelly, and become heavier. In parts, veins of ''alios'' (a reduced form of iron) can be found.Clive Coates MW in ''An Encyclopaedia Of The Wines And Domaines Of France'', p. 68, Cassel & Co., 2000 - The layers of gravel on top of clay lead to comparatively poor drainage, and the harvest is one of the latest of the whole region, although this water retention can be of use in vintages of low rainfall.


See also

*
French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and Amer ...
*
Bordeaux Wine Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...
*
Bordeaux wine regions The wine regions of Bordeaux are a large number of wine growing areas, differing widely in size and sometimes overlapping, which lie within the overarching wine region of Bordeaux, centred on the city of Bordeaux and covering the whole area of the ...
*
Communes of the Gironde department The following is a list of the 535 communes of the Gironde department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):Communes of Gironde {{Gironde-geo-stub