WineRegionsOld WorldFranceRhoneSouth
The Lirac vineyard is planted on the dry slopes on the right bank of the Rhone alongside Tavel, and overflows into the neighboring villages of Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres, Roquemaure and Saint-Genies-de-Comolas. In the sixteenth century Roquemaure was a busy port on the Rhone, and thence the wines of the Cotes du Rhone, left for Paris, England and Holland. The basic vines are grenache and cinsault, together with clairette for the white wines, mourvedre and syrah for the red. But there is a secret to Lirac. As well as the main vine varieties there are others counoise and maccabeo for example and the proportions give a special personality to each growth. Vinified as rose, it is drunk young and fresh, just as the very unusual and only too rare white wine. The red. on the other hand reaches perfection only after being aged for two or three years.
