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Appellation · France

Madiran

Tannat in its homeland — a variety so tannic that a winemaking technique had to be invented to tame it.

Madiran AOCmaritimemoderate
What to expect in the glass

Full-bodied, dark, powerfully tannic dry red with blackberry, liquorice and a firm, drying finish. Needs food and needs time.

About Madiran

Madiran is in the Pyrenean foothills of Gascony, and its grape is Tannat — named, transparently, for its tannin, which is among the highest of any wine variety.

Traditional Madiran was famously unapproachable for a decade. Micro-oxygenation, a technique of introducing tiny controlled quantities of oxygen during ageing, was developed here in the early 1990s specifically to soften it, and has since been adopted worldwide.

Tannat is now more widely planted in Uruguay than in France, where it is the national grape and produces a softer, riper wine.

Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, from the same area, is a white wine made dry or sweet from local varieties including Petit Manseng — and is one of the least known good sweet wines in France.

What the name means

Legal name
Madiran AOC
Type
Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée / Protégée (AOC / AOP)
Set by
INAO
Recognised
1948
Regulates
Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.

The delimited area, permitted varieties, maximum yields, minimum alcohol, pruning and training methods, and in many cases minimum ageing. Administered by INAO.

Worth knowing

Red wine only, principally Tannat with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon permitted. White wine from the same area is Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, a separate appellation.

Grapes

Wines from here

red

Madiran

Tannat from south-west France: among the most tannic red wines made anywhere, and the birthplace of micro-oxygenation.

Rules worth knowing

Confirmed in the EU register

Madiran is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-FR-A0687, protected at EU level since 1973.

Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013

Specification published: Official Journal C, C/2026/1841, 01.04.2026 · Official Journal

Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.

The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.

What to eat, and how to serve it

Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.

Madiran

Serve at 16–18°C (cool room temperature).

Try with duck confit, ribeye steak or roast chicken.

Where to go next

Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.

  • Jurançon — Sweet and dry whites from Petit and Gros Manseng in the Pyrenean foothills, made from grapes left on the vine into December.
  • Cahors — Malbec’s original home, on the river Lot, and the source of the "black wine" that made the variety’s reputation long before Argentina existed as a wine country.

Sources

Sources consulted