Cotes de Bordeaux

The Cotes de Bordeaux appellation was created in 2009 to merge four existing appellations used in France’s Bordeaux region. These four were: Premieres Cotes de Blaye, Cotes de Castillon, Cotes de Francs, and the red wines from the Cadillac district, which previously fell under the Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux title.

Although intended to simplify the Bordeaux Cotes appellation structure, combining these four under an entirely new (but not entirely original or easily distinguishable) title has arguably added further complexity to Bordeaux’s appellations. This is emphasized by the fact that the four component appellations are geographically widespread. Francs and Castillon are located at the eastern end of the Bordeaux region, while Blaye is in the west and Cadillac in the south.

The change is a commercially motivated decision, intended to create unity between these significant, but less well-known appellations. Cotes de Bourg was intended as a fifth appellation in the group, but this did not go ahead for various bureaucratic reasons.