Before the revolution Chateau Mourgues du Gres was an Ursuline Convent, which exploited the land to feed the sisters and to raise funds for their charitable works. Later it was to become a farm and wine producing estate, which began to produce its own wines in the 1990's.

 

It is situated in the Costieres du Nimes part of the Southern Rhone valley, on an area that was once a bed of part of the delta of this great river, as well as the hillsides that overlooked it. This makes the terroir very interesting, with large riverworn pebbles, schists of various types and limestone prevalent. despite being in a hot sunny part of the South of France, the vines rarely suffer from water stress, due to the reserves from the Rhone, and the damp soth wind that comes from the sea. The Mistral also blows here, which while potentially depressing for people is great for keeping the grapes healthy.

 

The viticulture is careful, with the vines trained as double cordons. Winter pruning is used to restrict yield, with further trimming crried out in the summer months. The vinification is modern in style, using temperature control of steel and concrete tanks, with remontage and the occasional delestage used to aid extraction. The wines are then aged in cuve or for some in 500 litre barrels.

 

This is a fascinating domain, and while just out of the Languedoc wine region, it does represent an important and very interesting style of southern French winemaking.