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Appellation · France

Minervois

A large Languedoc appellation on limestone terraces, with a small high-altitude enclave — La Livinière — making its most serious wine.

Minervois AOCmediterraneanwarm
What to expect in the glass

Medium-to-full bodied dry red with black fruit, garrigue herbs and a warm, spicy finish. Firm but not harsh tannin.

About Minervois

Minervois covers a broad sweep of terraces north of the Canal du Midi, rising towards the Montagne Noire.

The higher sites are markedly cooler than the plain, and La Livinière — carved out as its own appellation in 1999 — sits at 200–400 m and makes the region’s most structured wine.

Carignan, long dismissed as a bulk variety, produces genuinely good wine here from old bush vines on poor soils.

What the name means

Legal name
Minervois AOC
Type
Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée / Protégée (AOC / AOP)
Set by
INAO
Recognised
1985
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

Minervois La Livinière, a higher and cooler enclave, has been a separate appellation since 1999.

Grapes

Wines from here

red

Languedoc red

Mediterranean blends from France’s largest wine region — warm, herbal and increasingly serious.

Rules worth knowing

Confirmed in the EU register

Minervois is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-FR-A0330, protected at EU level since 1973.

Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013

Specification published: Official Journal C 87, 15.3.2021 · 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.

Languedoc red

Serve at 15–17°C (cellar cool).

Try with cassoulet, roast chicken or fillet steak.

Where to go next

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

  • Corbières — The Languedoc’s largest appellation, spread across wild hill country between Narbonne and the Pyrenean foothills.
  • Saint-Chinian — A Languedoc appellation split between schist in the north and limestone in the south, making two recognisably different wines.
  • Faugères — A small hillside appellation on schist, making the Languedoc’s most distinctive and least rustic reds.

Sources

Sources consulted