Wines Éric's
Saint Gervais, a blend of 25 year old Grenache vines, 30 year old Carignan
vines and 10 year old Syrah vines, is a cherry-red color and offers aromas
of provincial spice and red fruit. A nice balance of tannins to acid this
nicely fruity wine can easily be enjoyed for 2-4 years.
Vineyards
The Grenache and Carignan vineyard are located in les Cellettes.
The Syrah vineyard is located on a sandy flat near the Cèze.
Terroir
Saint Gervais, in the Gard département, is bordered to the North
by the out hills of the Ardèche and sits in a small valley carved
by the river Cèze along an ancient fault. Located 5 km northwest
of Bagnols-sur-Cèze, it is the most western village of the 16 Côtes
du Rhône Villages. The soil found in the Grenache Vineyard is a
red clay soil consisting of decomposed limestone from the Mesozoic era
and it becomes a more gravely soil as it approaches the plateau. The alluvial
soil found in the Syrah vineyard is consists of decomposed limestone and
siliceous.
With the Ardèche to the north and the Cèze to the south
the Mediterranean mesoclimate in the vineyard is moderated so that during
the summer the vineyards are much cooler than normal for the Southern
Rhône which results in a later than average harvest.
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
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