Malepere is an appellation for red and rosée wines from an area immediately south-west of Carcassonne, in the Languedoc-Rousillon wine region of southern France. The appellation was created as VDQS Cotes de la Malepere in January 1983 and promoted to full AOC status in 2007, under the simpler name Malepere.
As with the stylistically similar Cabardes appellation (directly to the north), Malepere wines are made from an eclectic combination of Bordeaux and Languedoc grape varieties. Merlot is the most widely used, paired with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Grenache, Syrah and Cinsaut.
Malepere wines come from a Mediterranean climate that is hot and dry with a relatively mild winter. They are grown on soils rich in clay and limestone – similar to those of Blanquette de Limoux, directly to the south. The environment here is not typical of the Languedoc (it is more like that of south-west France), because it is divided from the rest of the region by the hills at the center of the Aude administrative area. This short range of early Pyrenean foothills reaches heights of 2000ft (600m) immediately east of Carcassonne, creating a slightly different climate.
As in many southern French wine areas, production here is dominated by a small number of co-operatives.
