Saint-Georges-d'Orques is a named 'terroir' of the Languedoc appellation in Languedoc-Roussillon, France. Located immediately west of Montpellier town, it is one of five terroirs within the larger Gres de Montpellier sub-region. As an officially recognized terroir, the Saint-Georges-d'Orques name may be used as part of the official appellation title, giving Languedoc Saint-Georges-d'Orques.
All Languedoc Saint-Georges-d'Orques wines are reds made predominantly from Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre grapes. Both Carignan and Cinsaut were once common in the vineyards here, but have fallen from favor and are now relegated to a minor role in the local wines. For a few vintages, the title also covered white wines, but is now focused entirely on reds.
The Saint-Georges-d'Orques viticultural area covers the eponymous village and four of its neighbors: Juvignac, Laverune, Murviel-les-Montpellier and Pignan. Even if their vineyards sprawl unevenly across the plain, the five villages themselves are neat and compact. They are separated from one another by less than two miles and form a neat trapezoid, with Pignan and Laverune in the south and Juvignac, Murviel-les-Montpellier and Saint-Georges-d'Orques in the north. At the heart of the area is a large sandstone quarry – a barren, scarred island amid a sea of vineyards. This serves as a clear indicator of the local soil type here and throughout the Gres de Montpellier zone; grès is the French word for 'sandstone'.
The land here is relatively flat and low-lying (the majority of vineyards sit on the plain at altitudes of 130-260ft (40m-80m). The land does rise, however, towards the north-western corner, around Murviel, where the highest vineyards sit at around 650ft (200m). The climate here is definitively Mediterranean, with long, warm summers and plentiful sunshine helping the grapes to reach full phenolic ripeness.
