The Story


Sommelier Ludovic Engelvin was a former student of Didier Dagueneau in the Loire Valley. When he eventually returned to his native Languedoc, it was to open a wine shop. Engelvin decided to try making his own wine on the side, and purchased a hectare of Grenache Noir, which had been planted originally in 1955. This patch of land soon increased in size, along with Engelvin’s devotion to it. Several years later, he sold his shop and began making wine on a fulltime basis. Not bad for someone who found his own way into winemaking, having little family heritage in the discipline.

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The People


Ludovic

Still in the early days of his career, Ludovic already excels through a diligent, intuitive approach to his craft.

It was not by chance that he discovered the vine though. His grandfather was already making his own wine out of his few vine stocks ...

Extensive experience in the industry and a passion for nuanced expressions of place have provided this young talent with all the necessary tools to stir things up and breathe fresh life into some of the Languedoc’s great unheralded terroirs.

 

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The Place


France, Languedoc

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.

Ludovic Engelvin Location

Photography by Matt Hickman