Wines The Laudun, made
from 50 year old Grenache and 60 year old Mourvèdre vines, is a
bright purple-red color, dense on the palette and offers aromas of ripe
fruit, stone and spice. This wine is best in it's youth but will easily
age 2-4 years and goes very well with grilled meats or a traditional plate
of charcuterie (assorted cold meats).
Vineyards
Éric's Laudun vineyards are located in the commune of Tresque.
There are two Grenache vineyards, both gobelet trained and planted about
1 meter apart. The Mourvèdre vineyard is also gobelet trained and
planted about 1 meter apart.
Terroir
Laudun, on the western bank of the Rhône in the Gard département,
is bordered to the North by the river Cèze and is south of Saint
Gervais and Chusclan. The climate is Mediterranean with the exception
that le mistral will blow her brutal gusts and the Cèze and Rhône
moderate the extremes in temperature.
The red clay soil found in the Grenache vineyards consists of decomposed
limestone from the Mesozoic era as well as gravel. The soil of the Mourvèdre
vineyard is quite different, consisting of a combination of alluvial decomposed
limestone and siliceous.
Côtes du Rhône Villages
In 1953 four villages in the Southern Rhône were making wines considered
to be of higher quality than those usually produced under the generic
Côtes du Rhône label. These four villages - Cairanne, Laudun,
Chusclan and Gigondas were not considered to be ready for full appellation
status (like those of Châteauneuf du Pape, Côte Rotie, Hermitage,
etc.) but were certainly superior to the many Côtes du Rhône
wines produced. Therefore the INAO (National Institute of Appellations
of Origin) decided that if these villages followed agreed upon rules they
would create a new status to identify their higher quality wines. Rules
were laid out that governed grape varieties, yields per hectare and the
minimum alcohol strength of their red wines raised from 11% to 12.5%.
Producers following these rules were then allowed to market their wine
as Côtes du Rhône - "Cairanne" for example and therefore
to promote the distinctive characteristics of their local terroir. After
two additional villages joined this illustrious group (Vacqueyras in 1955
and Vinsobres in 1957) a common title was created in 1967 to apply to
all of the wines: Côtes du Rhône Villages. Today there are
16 villages with this status
| 
