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Graves Superieures is the appellation title for sweet white wines from the Graves district of Bordeaux. It was created in 1937, alongside the generic Graves appellation, which covers the district's dry wines (both red and white). Any combination of the standard Bordeaux white varieties Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle may be used to make Graves Superieures wines. The lesser-known Sauvignon Gris is also sanctioned for use, but this is rare.

A Graves Superieures wine label

A Graves Superieures wine may, theoretically, be made anywhere in the district; the title covers precisely the same area as the standard Graves appellation. This translates to the 40 or so parishes between the southern suburbs of Bordeaux city and the small town of Langon, which marks the south-eastern corner of the wider Bordeaux region. In practice, however, most of the wines come from vineyards between Podensac and Martillac and around the town of Langon. These are the areas not covered by the district's more prestigious appellations.

The southern end of the Graves district is the epicenter of Bordeaux's sweet-wine production. Sweet wines can be produced almost anywhere in Bordeaux, and sold under the region-wide Bordeaux appellation, but Graves produces them in greater quality and greater quantity than anywhere else in the region. The famous wines of Sauternes and Barsac are produced here, as are those of the less-famous Cerons appellation, and just a stone's throw across the Garonne River are the vineyards of Cadillac, Loupiac and Sainte-Croix-du-Mont.

There are two key reasons for this focus on sweet wines. One is the local terroir, the other is a microscopic fungus known as botrytis cinerea (often just botrytis). In wet conditions, botrytis attacks grapes and begins to break them down, turning them gray and sour. It is known in these circumstances as 'gray rot'. When dry summer afternoons follow moist and misty mornings, however, the result is quite different, and is known as 'noble rot'. In ideal conditions, noble rot attacks grapes in the morning, but is halted by warm autumn sunshine, which dries the berries out and concentrates their flavors and sugars. When repeated over a number of weeks, this process can result in intensely sweet, flavor-packed grapes. The wines made from these are some of the most sought-after on Earth. In autumn, the southern Graves has precisely the right climatic conditions, thanks to the warming and cooling of air around the nearby rivers.

By appellation law, any wine bearing the Graves Superieures appellation must have been made from grapes affected by botrytis. The minimum must-weight requirement is 221 grams per liter, as it is for Sauternes. To bring some perspective to how sweet these grapes taste, the minimum for regular, dry Graves wines is just 170 grams per liter. Because these abundant sugars cannot all be fermented into alcohol, the resulting wines have high levels of residual sugar.