Lussac-Saint-Émilion is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée

Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...

(AOC) for red wine situated in the Bordeaux wine

Bordeaux wine

A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...

 region. The appellation is located on the right bank of the Garonne

Garonne

The Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of .-Source:The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret , the Ratera-Saboredo...

 and Dordogne

Dordogne

Dordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...

 rivers, about 45 kilometres (28 mi) from city of Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

 or 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from the medieval village of Saint-Émilion

Saint-Émilion

Saint-Émilion is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-History:Saint-Émilion's history goes back to prehistoric times and is a World Heritage site, with fascinating Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets.The Romans planted...

. It is one of the so-called "Saint-Émilion satellites" situated around the appellation Saint-Émilion AOC

Saint-Émilion AOC

Saint-Émilion is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée for wine in the Bordeaux wine region of France, where it is situated in the Libourne subregion on the right bank of the Dordogne...

 itself.

Terroir

The terroir of Lussac is characterized by the diversity of its soils, distributed between the plateaus, the sides of the hills and small valleys.

To the south-east, the slopes are clayey-limestone, similar in nature to those in the Saint-Emilion appellation. To the west, there is an elevated gravel and sandy-gravel plateau, not very wide, and to the north, cold clayey soil or heavy clay is predominant. To the east, the subsoil consists of limestone beds which made excellent quarries for extracting soft building stone. To the north-west, there are a few stone quarries, as well as ferruginious sand or clay.

Winemaking

The grape varieties allowed in Lussac-Saint-Émilion are Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...

, Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

, Malbec

Malbec

Malbec is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are long known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. The French plantations of Malbec are now found primarily in Cahors in the South West...

 and Merlot

Merlot

Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...

. Merlot usually dominates the blend. The allowed base yield is 45 hectolitres per hectare.

Estates

In Lussac the wine estates are essentially family-properties. The average size of each would be about 10 hectares (24.7 acre). A total of 900 hectares (2,223.9 acre) are cultivated by 95 independent vineyard owners, and 530 hectares (1,309.7 acre) are exploited by members of the Puisseguin-Lussac-Saint-Emilion winemaking cooperative

Winemaking cooperative

A winemaking cooperative is an agricultural cooperative which is involved in winemaking, and which in similarity to other cooperatives is owned by its members...

.