The laser-diode-heated floating-zone (LDFZ) is a new variant of the floating-zone (FZ) technique where the molten-zone is established using a set of horizontal laser beams. Unlike a conventional mirror-type FZ, the non-divergent property of the laser beam in LDFZ allows for the growth of high melting temperature refractory materials comprising volatile components. The compound ErVO₃ not only has a high melting temperature (∼2100 °C), it also contains volatile V₂O₃ as one of the components. We show here that large (cm-size) and high-quality crystals of ErVO₃ can be obtained with relative ease using the LDFZ technique. In contrast, using the conventional FZ technique, an excessive evaporation of V₂O₃ from the molten-zone and the feed-rod led to discontinuation of growth within a short time; and the resulting boule, about 2 cm long, was essentially polycrystalline with tiny (less than 1 mm in size) crystals embedded in it. The high-quality of the LDFZ-grown crystal boule is inferred using optical and electron microscopies, Laue backscattering and neutron diffraction techniques. Magnetic susceptibility, neutron diffraction and specific heat measurements on the grown crystal confirmed the presence of orbital ordering at T_OO = 195 K, V³⁺ spin ordering at T_M1 = 110 K, simultaneous spin and orbital ordering at T_M2 = 58 K, and the long-range ordering of the Er moments near 2.5 K. Our work establishes a relatively straightforward method of growing large crystals of the RVO₃ family of compounds. The method can be extended to other high melting temperature refractory materials with volatile components.