Lirac is a

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

-growing ''

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bou ...

'' (AOC) in the department of Gard situated in the low hills along the right bank of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

river in the southern Rhône wine region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. It is named after the village of Lirac. Bordering on the neighbouring cru of

Tavel AOC Tavel is a wine-growing ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' in the southern Rhône wine region of France, across the Rhône River from Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC and just north of Avignon. Tavel wines are all rosé wines and must have a minimum ...

, a rosé-only cru in the next village, Lirac is one of the 13 crus of the Rhône valley family.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a French wine, an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) located around the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Rhône wine region in southeastern France. It is one of the most renowned appellations of the southern ...

is across the Rhône from it.

History

Lirac wines were appreciated by the royal and papal courts in Avignon at the time of the schism. Pope

Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...

ordered 20 casks of wine from there in 1357 and

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...

and

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

served them regularly at court, where they were called simple Rhône wine.Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' JP Bøger - JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. , p. 166 In the mid-17th century the right-bank district of the Côte du Rhône had issued regulations to govern the quality of its wine and in 1737 the king ordered that casks of Lirac wine shipped from the nearby river port of Roquemaure should be branded with the letters CDR to introduce a system of protecting its origin. The rules for its ''Côte du Rhône'' thus formed the very early basis of today's nationwide AOC system governed by the INAO. Production was very high in those days: in 1774 the vintage yielded more than 8000 hl. of wine. In 1863 phylloxera arrived in Lirac. In fact, a winemaker at Château de Clary may have been responsible for introducing it. The name was changed to Côtes du Rhône when the left-bank wines were included in the appellation some hundred years later. The appellation received full recognition by a High Court decision in 1937. In the 1930s, Count Henri de Régis, the owner of the Château de Ségriès in the heart of the village of Lirac improved the quality of his wines until in 1945 he obtained the highest distinction, a cru, of the Côtes du Rhône. Two years later in 1947 the appellation was confirmed by government decree. Lirac is the oldest wine in the Côtes du Rhône region and was the first to be produced in all three colours: red, rosé, and white. In recent years, the planted vineyard area of Lirac has been increasing, and more high-quality wines are being produced.

Climate and geography

The village of Lirac lies to the west of the Rhone in the department of Gard, a little over 10 km due west of Châteauneuf-du-Pape which is on the opposite side of the river. Besides Lirac itself, the appellation includes the villages of Saint Laurent des Arbres, Saint Géniès de Comolas and Roquemaure which forms a girdle around the appellation. The terroir in Lirac is somewhat similar to Châteauneuf-du-Pape both in variety and hours of sun (2700). The best terroir for red wine is perhaps on the windy plateau ''Vallongue'', shared with Tavel that is only 5 km. away. In the relatively newly planted vineyards one finds plenty of '' galets roulés'' that retain heat. The area is slightly cooler that the lowlands.

Wines

Red wines are made from

Grenache noir Grenache () or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world.Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens (wine), ripens late, so it needs hot ...

(minimum 40%), Syrah and

Mourvèdre Mourvèdre (also known as Mataro or Monastrell) is a red wine grape variety grown in many regions around the world including the Rhône and Provence regions of France, the Valencia and Jumilla and Yecla '' denominaciones de origen'' (DOs) of S ...

(minimum of 25% together),

Cinsault Cinsaut or Cinsault ( ) is a red wine grape whose heat tolerance and productivity make it important in Languedoc-Roussillon and the former French colonies of Algeria, Lebanon, and Morocco. It is often blended with grapes such as Grenache and C ...

, and

Carignan Carignan (also known as Mazuelo, Bovale Grande, Cariñena, Carinyena, Samsó, Carignane, and Carignano) is a red grape variety of Spanish origin that is more commonly found in French wine but is widely planted throughout the western Mediterra ...

(maximum 10%). Rosé: The same varieties are used as for the red, and up to 20% of the allowed varieties for white wine may be used. White wines are produced from Clairette,

Grenache blanc Grenache blanc (also known as garnatxa blanca in Catalonia) is a variety of white wine grape that is related to the red grape Grenache. It is mostly found in Rhône wine blends and in northeast Spain. Its wines are characterized by high alcohol ...

and

Bourboulenc Bourboulenc is a white wine grape variety primarily grown in southern France. The variety is found in the regions Southern Rhône, Provence and Languedoc. Bourboulenc is a late-ripening grape variety with tight bunches of large grapes, that can ...

. No variety may be used in a proportion greater than 60%. The minimum alcohol for all three colours is decreed at 11.5%. The style of red Lirac often resembles a soft Côtes du Rhône-Villages, but the more ambitious wines are often similar to Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Rosé Lirac is usually similar to Tavel.

Economy

The Lirac wines are produced by a total of 100 concerns which include 93 growers, 43 private wineries, 6 cooperative wineries, and one producer/merchant.INAO, April 2007 Many producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape also produce Lirac wine. The vineyards are located in the four communes of Lirac,

Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres (; oc, Sent Laurenç deis Aubres) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of ...

, Saint-Geniès-de-Comolas, and Roquemaure.

References

Cotes du Rhone Wines Web Site

History

Climate and geography

Wines

Economy

References

See also