The Bergerac area contains 13 Appellations d'origine contrôlées (AOCs) for red, white (dry, medium-sweet and sweet) and rosé wines.

Approximately fifteen per cent of Bergerac AOC wine is sold outside France mainly to Great Britain, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

[2] As in the neighbouring wine-growing area of Bordeaux, the cultivation of vines began in this recently created country district of Bergeracois with the arrival of the Romans.

Vines occupied a rapidly expanding place in the local economy, the river Dordogne helped to promote the wine trade along its navigable sections.

The Muslims ordered the uprooting of all vines and this, combined with the threat of danger from the northern invaders, caused communities to withdraw into themselves and killed off all trade.

These dispensations gave the Bergerac community the right to assembly, special tax exemptions and the right to ship their wines to Bordeaux unhindered.

The wine-growers decided to change their strategy and concentrate on producing dry white and sweet dessert wines, which were sought by this market.

To the north of the River Dordogne, the source rock contains sands and clays mixed with gravel; the latter produce acid soils with a faded brown colour, while an accumulation of minerals deep below the surface create an impermeable sub-stratum known as "tran".

Dry weather in September concentrates the grape aromas, while moderate humidity in October promotes the development of noble rot, vital for the creation of great dessert wines.