Espontaneo, 2013

Situated halfway between the Pic Saint Loup and Tavel, the area known as the Languedoc Gardois has long been a viticultural hotspot: the Romans, who made the nearby city of Nîmes an important hub, established a thriving winemaking industry here centuries ago. Local wines enjoyed notable prestige throughout history, but a shift toward productivity over quality in the twentieth century all but stripped the region of its reputation. Thanks to forward-thinking young vignerons like Ludovic Engelvin, these historic terroirs are once again living up to their former glory. Now the proprietor of nine hectares, split between terroirs of limestone and sandstone amid a rugged landscape dominated by stones and scrubby aromatic garrigue, Ludovic crafts elegant, perfumed wines of great purity. Engelvin is now famed for his refined Grenache Noir. He uses no mechanical intervention in the process, and a herd of sheep help keep the soil healthy. If the vines ever need treatment, only essential oils and herbal remedies are used. Bottling is further designed to maintain the quality of the final product, using only gravity in the process.