On land that is a mixture of clay, chalk and limestone there are 6 distinct 'cepages': Syrah Grenache, Old Carignan and Cinsault for the Appellations and Merlot, Cabernet Franc for the Vin de Pays.

Percentages: Syrah 22.5%, Grenache 17%, Cinsault 3.5%, Old Carignan 15.5%, Cabernet Franc 13%, Merlot 15.5% Carignan 13%

Here is a little bit of information about the grape varieties used:

Old Carignan (for AOC) and Carignan (for VDP)
Carignan when it is grown on a slope, to lower the yield, can produce a wine with good body, colour, and character with a characteristic harshness and astringency that diminishes with age. It has an upright growth habit and can be grown without a trellis.

Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is a key blending grape; it adds tannins and increases the complexity of the wine. In general Cabernet Franc buds and ripens a little early. The vine is vigorous and upright, with dark-green, 5-lobed leaves. The small berries are quite small and blue-black in colour, with fairly thin skins.

Grenache
Grencache is probably the most widely planted variety of red wine grape in the world. It ripens late, so needs hot, dry conditions such as those found in Spain and in the south of France. It is generally spicy, berry-flavoured and soft on the palate with a relatively high alcohol content, but it needs careful control of yields for best results. It tends to lack acid, tannin and colour, and is usually blended with other varieties such as Syrah, Carignan and Cinsaut.

Merlot
Merlot grapes are identified by their loose bunches of large berries. The colour has less of a blue/black hue and a thinner skin, the grapes also have fewer tannins. Also compared to Cabernet, a Merlot grape tends to have higher sugar content and lower malic acid. Merlot thrives in cold soil, particularly ferrous clay. The vine tends to bud early which gives it some risk to cold frost and its thin skin increases its susceptibility to rot. It normally ripens up to two weeks earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon.

Syrah
Shiraz is often vinified on its own, but is also frequently blended with other grape varieties. It is grown in many wine producing regions around the world, with concentrations in Australia, France, and America. Shiraz grapes have a characteristically deep purple colour that is reflected in their wine. The wines that are made from Syrah vary greatly, even over small changes in the vines locations. The differences in the soil quality as well as the changes in the slope of the terrain tend to produce different styles of wine.


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