Saint-Mont : facts and figures
The Saint-Mont AOP wine area has been awarded Vignobles & Découvertes under the name "Les Bons Crus D'Artagnan".
- Location: Gers département
- Surface area: 1,200 hectares.
- Main villages: Saint Mont, Plaisance and Aignan.
- Origins: these date back to the founding of the Benedictine monastery at Saint Mont in the 11th century. The monastery is still an important staging post on St James's Way to Santiago de Compostela (the Arles route and the Pyrenean Foothills route).
- Grape varieties: there are 8 of them, including tannat, pinenc, cabernet franc, arrufiac and petit courbu. All are ancient and originate from here.
- Types of wine: reds, whites and rosés.
- Tasting notes: rich, elegant reds that can be kept for a long time but are noted for their freshness when young; original and extremely fresh white wines; soft, delicate, refreshing rosés.
- Countryside and atmosphere: waves of gently rolling, harmonious hillsides clad in rows of vines rising above the River Adour; peaceful old villages; monasteries and châteaux producing great Saint Mont wines.
- Distinctive characteristics: some of the vines in the Saint Mont appellation have been proved to be among the oldest in France, at over 150 years old.
- Quality certification: Previously an AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) from 2011, this wine area is now an AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée – Protected Designation of Origin, or PDO) under the new European system.