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PGI — Aquitaine
Before becoming confit or foie gras, the Oie du Sud-Ouest is first and foremost a creature of the open air and maize, fattened by gavage in the tradition of the marchés au gras that have forged the reputation of the Gers, the Landes, Périgord and Quercy for centuries.
Free-range poultry from Aquitaine, PGI (IGP) since 2026.
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The geese reared in the South-West descend from the wild greylag goose (Anser anser), whose domestication and fattening have been documented since Antiquity. In the South-West, waterfowl rearing developed from the Middle Ages onwards, within the ancestral mixed crop-and-livestock farming systems characteristic of the region's farms.
The introduction of maize in the 17th century revolutionised the feeding of farmyard poultry: goose and maize became inseparable, each providing an outlet for the other. The gradual increase in the proportion of maize in feed rations and the observation of its effects on the fattening of geese gave rise, at the end of the 18th century, to the gavage techniques still practised today.
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On smallholdings, family farmyards provided meat and fat for peasant households; surplus was sold at markets that evolved into specialised 'marchés au gras', where geese were offered whole — carcass and liver together, or separately. This trading tradition, born in the 19th century with the rise of the railways carrying products from the South-West to Bordeaux, Paris or England, endures today in the Gers at Samatan, in the Landes at Peyrehorade, in Périgord at Périgueux and in Quercy at Cahors.
Today, production has concentrated on these four historical heartlands — Gers, Landes, Périgord, Quercy —, which give their names to the complementary geographical designations of the PGI (IGP) and where dedicated fairs are still held, such as 'Fest'Oie' in Sarlat or 'Thiv'Oie' in Thiviers.
Appearance
Good conformation, pronounced fattening visible across all cuts; skin and fat (subcutaneous and abdominal) off-white to yellow in colour
Texture
Firm flesh, well-developed magrets
marketed with liver (minimum 7 kg), without liver (minimum 6 kg) or eviscerated (minimum 4 kg), exclusively fresh.
fillet from the pectoral muscle mass, minimum 300 g, presented with its skin and subcutaneous fat.
minimum 500 g, deveined or not, plain or seasoned (salt, spices, alcohol, up to a limit of 4% of the total mass).
cuts and offal intended notably for the production of confit.
'Gers', 'Landes', 'Périgord' or 'Quercy', reserved for geese reared, fattened by gavage, slaughtered and cut in the corresponding terroir.
goslings of the species Anser anser (grey goose), delivered to the farm no later than 2 days after hatching.
feed ration composed of at least 50% cereals and oilseeds; maximum density of 10 geese per m².
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As the raw material of the South-West fattened waterfowl sector, the goose rarely reaches the consumer as such: it is primarily the source of the two other PGI specialities of the same family, confit d'oie and foie gras d'oie du Sud-Ouest, as well as magret, the prized cut taken from the fattened animal.
What the product specification authorises for direct sale — whole goose (with or without liver, or eviscerated), cuts and offal — traditionally finds buyers at the marchés au gras of the South-West, in Samatan, Peyrehorade, Périgueux or Cahors.
Since: 2026
Area covered: Aquitaine Basin of the South-West: Corrèze, Dordogne, Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Ariège, Aveyron, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Lot, Hautes-Pyrénées, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne, and a few communes in Haute-Vienne and Aude. Four complementary geographical designations may supplement the name: Gers, Landes, Périgord, Quercy.
Key requirements: Grey geese (male or female) of the species Anser anser, reared outdoors then fattened by gavage from a minimum age of 91 days, for at least 12 days. Fattening feed composed of 95% maize (dry matter), free from GMOs and palm oil. All stages — rearing, fattening, slaughter, evisceration, cutting — carried out in the geographical area.
Association under the 1901 Act (ODG)
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