Côtes du Forez AOC is a region between Clermont-Ferrand and Saint-Étienne in the Central Vineyards area of the Loire Valley, an area Roger Voss (19997) describes ‘as remote as you can get in France.’ Côtes du Forez became an AOC from the 2002 vintage, it covers 21 communes (listed below) around Boën sur Lignon (Loire department). Red and rosé wines based on Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc, the main grape here, are made and ‘the approach is very much on the lines of the growers of Beaujolais Nouveau: fresh reds made to be drunk almost immediately, says Roger Vos (1997).

Wine production & vineyard area: 2002 6,405hl from 175ha (Guide Hachette des Vins 2004, p.975).

Communes (21): Arthun, Boën, Bussy-Albieux, Champdieu, Ecotay-l’Olme, Leigneux, Lézigneux, Marcilly-le-Châtel, Marcoux, Moingt-Montbrison, Pralong, Saint-Germain-Laval, Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville, Saint-Sixte, Saint-Thomas-la-Garde, Sainte-Agathe-la-Bouteresse, Trelins.

Terroir: Roger Voss (1997) describes the region as being ‘scattered over the western slopes of the Loire proper. Of all the Loire vineyards, this is the closest to the Rhône both in geography and tradition.’ 

Altitude of 400–600 metres (1312–1,968 feet). The zone is protected from bad weather by the Forez mountains. Granite soils allied with basaltic buttes of volcanic origin.

Bibliography

Roger Voss, ‘Voyage of Discovery’, Wine Magazine February 1997, p.51-53.