Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux AOC is an appellation for wines of all three colours from the eastern extremity of the right bank of the Bordeaux region. It was previously called Sainte Foy Bordeaux AOC.  

Hugh Johnson (Wine Companion: 1991, p.103) describes Ste-Foy as looking like ‘a natural part of the Bergerac region cobbled on to Bordeaux. Its wines are not notably different from the Dordogne wines of Bergerac, and its history is identical. For centuries the Dutch came here for the two commodities most in demand in the Low Coutries and Baltic: sweet wine and wine for distilling.’ 

The Bergerac region borders the Bergerac AOC (the town of Bergerac lies 14 miles/22km to the east) and the Périgord in South West France. It is named after its principal town, Sainte-Foy-La-Grande, a medieval bastide or fortified town constructed in 1255 whose duty was to hinder wines from the haut pays reaching Bordeaux before the Bordeaux merchants had sold and shipped their own crop each harvest. In 1936, Like other frontier towns on the Right Bank such as Saint-Macaire and Castillon-la-Bataille, Sainte-Foy was awarded its own appellation of Sainte-Foy Bordeaux, distinct from the rest of the Entre-Deux-Mers AC to the west. In 2016 Sainte-Foy Bordeaux chose to become part of the Côtes de Bordeaux group (Blaye, Cadillac, Castillon, and Francs being the others) and its name was updated to Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux.

Vineyard area & wine production: 2002 14,584hl of red from and 1,841hl of white from around 387ha (Guide Hachette des Vins 2004, p.318).

Communes (19): Caplong, Eynesse, Gensac, Landerrouat, Les Lèves-et-Thoumeyragues, Ligueux, Margeron, Massugas, Pellegrue, Pessac sur Dordogne, Pineuilh, Riocaud, La Roquille, Saint André et Appelles, Saint Avit de Soulège, Saint Avit Saint Nazaire, Saint Philippe du Seignal, Saint Quentin de Caplong, and Sainte Foy la Grande.

Vineyard area: 1996 350 hectares (864 acres).

Terroir: Clay limestone slopes. Aspect varies.

Viticulture: Pruning is mainly Guyot double. Rootstocks: 420A for red, R110 and SO4, 5BB and SO4 for white. Vine density: 3 metres by 1 metre = 3,000 vines per hectare (1,124 vines per acre), or 2 metres by 1 metre  = 4,400 vines per hectare (7,840 vines per acre). 

White wines

Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux Blanc AOC: As with St Macaire, the white wines of Ste Foy can be medium dry, but there is no minimum level of sweetness.

Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux Rouge AOC

Wineries

Certified Biodynamic: Château Coursou. | Château Les Mangons.

Certified organic: Château Bel-Air-Coustut. | Château Le Peyrail. | Château Le Raït. | Château Petit-Roc. | Le Pre de la Lande.