Langon

Langon may refer to:

Other uses

Langon, Gironde

Langon is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France. Langon serves as the seat of its district, canton and subprefecture. Its inhabitants are called Langonnais.

Geography

Langon is in the northern part of the department 48 km (30 mi) southeast of Bordeaux on the left bank of the Garonne river. It lies near the border between a wine-growing region (Premières côtes de Bordeaux) and the forest of Landes.

Population

Transport

Traditionally it was a stop on the Bordeaux-Toulouse route; the city is now served by the Entre-Deux-Mers autoroute. (A62 Bordeaux-Toulouse).

Langon is also a pivotal point in the Itinéraire à Grand Gabarit, the waterway and road route constructed to allow the transportation of the fuselage sections and wings of the Airbus A380 airliner to the final assembly point in Toulouse. These components are brought to Langon by barge, where they are transferred at a specially constructed dock to outsize road vehicles. These then proceed in convoy via an indirect southerly route to Toulouse.

Merlot

Merlot is a dark blue-colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color of the grape. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.

Along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, Merlot is one of the primary grapes used in Bordeaux wine, and it is the most widely planted grape in the Bordeaux wine regions. Merlot is also one of the most popular red wine varietals in many markets. This flexibility has helped to make it one of the world's most planted grape varieties. As of 2004, Merlot was estimated to be the third most grown variety at 260,000 hectares (640,000 acres) globally, with an increasing trend. This puts Merlot just behind Cabernet Sauvignon's 262,000 hectares (650,000 acres).