Costières de Nîmes
Rhône vineyard south side

Costières de Nîmes AOP
2000 years of history
Typically Rhone-like terrain
Wines with southern character

Between the Cévennes, Rhône and Camargue is Costières de Nîmes: a surprisingly cool wine region.

2000 years of history

Even if these vineyards have been known to exist since Roman times, the 1950s would be crucial to Costières de Nîmes’ future identity. One man in particular, Philippe Lamour, a Parisian lawyer and estate owner in Costières de Nîmes, was its pioneer.

« Still fairly unknown, yet Costières de Nîmes is home to vineyards increasing in quality every year. »

Guillaume Mollaret
Hôtel Lodge Magazine

Five centuries before our times, the Greeks were perfecting the art of growing vines in the region. The Romans then carried on expanding this. From the 8th century, monks developed vast vineyards around the abbeys. Saint-Gilles Abbey, a religious centre, supplied wine to the Popes who’d established themselves in Avignon.

Grandeur and decadence

In the 17th century, the region was booming thanks to the development of means of transport. The construction of the Midi canal remodelled the landscape and saw the region benefit from sluice gates making vine irrigation and wine production easier. The arrival of the railways accelerated this economic boom. But the phylloxera crisis, spotted for the first time in the Gard in 1864, decimated French vineyards. Vines were brought down from the hillsides to be planted on the fertile plains, with preference given to low quality grape varieties.

Steps to AOC Costières de Nîmes

After the Second World War, cooperative wineries, which grew rapidly, controlled most of the production. The Minister of Agriculture at the time decided that these wine industry organisations needed overhauling. So he commissioned Philippe Lamour, a brilliant Paris lawyer, well-known Resistance fighter and property owner in the Costières de Nîmes, with this task. This man, working alongside Baron Le Roy was to become a key player in the regions’ viticulture and put his mark permanently on the future identity of AOC Costières de Nîmes. He was the originator of VDQS wines (“from a delimited area of superior quality”), which were instigated in 1945. In 1989, the appellation changed name becoming Costières de Nîmes. Nowadays, the buzz created around its wines, especially with people from Nîmes, makes it one of the Rhône Valley’s rising stars.

Typically Rhone-like terrain

Very much Rhone wines, Costières de Nîmes’ reds, rosés and whites reflect the unique character of these wine-lands where everything naturally links back to the Rhône Valley.

« Being part of the large Rhône Valley wine family, AOC Costières de Nîmes' wines express a lovely fruity variety. Reds, rosés and whites reflect the unique character of these Mediterranean wine-lands. »

Le Nouvel Observateur
Vignes sur un sol de galets roulés

The soils in Costières de Nîmes are essentially made up of pebbles on clay-limestone earth, thereby signing their membership to the Rhône Valley. On the climate front, the appellation sees strong seasonal swings in rainfall. As in all the Rhône Valley vineyards, the Mistral wind blows through here all year round. A bonus for tending vines.

Typical Rhone grape varieties

Costières de Nîmes wines are made from a variety of grapes. Reds and rosés are mainly based on traditional varieties such as Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and, more of a blending grape, Carignan and Cinsault. The whites are based on Grenache blanc, Roussanne, Marsanne, and also Clairette, Bourboulenc, Viognier, Macabeu and Vermentino (Rolle). In all three colours, the blend has to contain at least two varieties.

A special convection effect

The location of the Petite Camargue, outside of the Rhone delta’s two arms, exposes the vineyards head on to the sea. Result: the stony alluvial deposits composed of red clay and pebbles similar to those in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, stimulate the oven effect. In summer, from midday until late at night, warm breezes form compensating for the differences in temperature between the ground along the coast and the sea. When these sea breezes meet the warm mass of air from the pebbly terraces, this amplifies the convection effect, hence a wide temperature variation between day and night acknowledged as a way of retaining fresh pure fruit. This climate pattern unique to the Costières profoundly marks the appellation’s wines.

Wines with southern character

Aromatic reds, modern and elegant, refreshing delicate whites and delightful fruity rosés… Costières de Nîmes’ wines have this signature Mediterranean character in common, reflecting their roots.

A diss to blowsy heavy wines.

“ These are the Rhône Valley's southernmost vineyards yet paradoxically the coolest. To the south-east of Nîmes, taking the road alongside vineyards from Vauvert, you hurtle down towards the sea as a natural extension of the Petite Camargue's lagoons, to discover an astonishing preserved natural setting with a vineyard backdrop.. ”

Iris Mour
Terre de Vins
Verre de vin rempli de rosé à l'ombre des arbres

Easy-drinking wines

Reds

Between Syrah and Grenache, the art of blending. Deep red wines with garnet hues, perfumed with red fruit and wild berry notes like blackberry and elderberry. Drink young for their fresh fruit or keep for three to five years, they develop violet-like aromas, black olive, sweet spices and wild herbs. Then a lingering fleshy texture on the palate and tasty liquorice-edged tannins.

Whites

The bright golden yellow colour of Costières de Nîmes whites denotes expressive, lively and tasty wines. They develop plenty of fruit and fresh white flower, citrus and exotic fruit flavours.

Rosés

From their lovely soft pink colour, they offer a variety of red berry fruits such as strawberry or raspberry. Generous and lingering on the palate, they can claim to be serious foodie rosés and really are wines for tasting.

Foodie wines

Reds

Elegance, aromatic complexity and ageing potential are characters of two styles of fine red wines: the modern touch, big Syrahs from pebbly terrain, and the classic touch, Grenache’s noble signature. But creativity is one of Costières de Nîmes’ characteristics too. Certain winegrowers also make wines with a good proportion of Mourvèdre in the blend. This variety gives red wines personality and subtle classy tannin texture that gets finer with ageing. Rarer still, Carignan and Cinsault also make their mark on a few refined and ‘mineral’ top wines.

Whites

Some wines are fermented and aged in barrels. These complex rich wines are worth waiting at least three years for. They develop rich, very ripe yellow fruit aromas, like apricot or peach, and develop honey and furniture polish notes.

Assiette d'un plat gastronomique
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