The river Rhône flows south from the Swiss Alps to Marseille on the Mediterranean. Swelled on its route by many tributaries, this mass of water has not only carved a deep cleft through the rocks between the Alps and Massif Centrale, it has an effect on the climate on those banks. The appellation runs from Vienne in the north in a thin corridor down the banks of the river, fanning out west to Costière de Nîmes and east to the boundary with Provence at the river’s delta. Any wine produced within this can carry the name Côtes du Rhône.
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Geographically the region is split in two. The Northern Rhône runs along the steep slopes of the gorge from Vienne to just south of Valence. Principal cultivation is on the granite right (western) bank, the only exceptions being the left bank granite outcrop of the Appellation Contrôlées of Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage, and the satellite appellations of Clairette de Die and Châtillon-en-Diois on the Drôme tributary. The Southern Rhône is everything south of Montélimar, now recognising the Mediterranean influenced Costière de Nîmes as its western limit. In addition to the general umbrella appellation Côtes du Rhône, within the Southern Rhône there exists another term Côte du Rhône-Villages, which is then appended by one of the 95 ‘villages’ names. This defines the wine production as a step up from the general category but on which is not from within one of the strictly regulated Appellation Controlées.
Northern Rhône
In the northern Rhône four grapes dominate. Red Syrah, and the whites, which only make up four percent, Rousanne, Marsanne and Viognier. The Côte-Rôtie, literal translation ‘the roasted coast’, with its nearly unscalable, south facing slopes, benefits from the Rhône’s reflective qualities, magnifying the sun’s ‘roasting’ effects. Almost exclusively Syrah is grown here, but Viognier is also present in small quantities; a small percentage of its juice is sometimes added to Syrah’s to increase the aromatic qualities of its red. Condrieu’s equally difficult terrain is not the only cross the region bears, as Viognier is a notoriously stubborn and finicky vine to grow. It is unusually grown in pairs in a tapering shape here. Condrieu’s single variety white is very much back in vogue with demand outstripping supply now, where once its vineyards were near abandoned. The area St Joseph is now long and thin, having expanded the AC in 1969 to over 40 miles long. Having endured criticism for the dilution this caused to the quality of some of the cooler climate, riverbank grown reds, the Rousanne and Marsanne whites are some of the most prized of the locality. Limited to just 130 hectares, Hermitage is the big star of the northern Rhône. Almost every available plot is put aside to vines. Traditionally the boisterous red that the region produces was so sought after that some Bordeaux reds were termed ‘hermitagé’, i.e. actually beefed up by small amounts of imported Hermitage red. Hermitage is 100 percent Syrah and is intended for maturation, even the fruit led examples. Enveloping the appellation is the much larger Crozes-Hermitage. Reds from here can rival Hermitage, or can be full of blackcurrant fruit flavours that are better younger. Like St Joseph on the opposite bank, Crozes-Hermitage produces Rousanne and Marsanne whites, these are substantial in flavour, if not in production quantity. Those two white grape varieties feature exclusively in the golden sparkling wines of the most southern appellation of St-Péray. The sparkling and still whites of the tiny Drôme appellations utilise Clairette and Muscat grapes instead. Cornas completes the appellations of the northern Rhône; its reds, though consistent, don’t carry the cachet of its near neighbours.
Southern Rhône
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, so famous, so instrumental, so why? Geographically at the centre of the southern Rhône, it was here that Baron Le Roy became the first wine grower to delimit an area of land to exclusively produce Châteauneuf-du-Pape in 1923. In doing so the Appellation Contrôlée system of France and Denominazione di Origine system for elsewhere in Europe began its development. This delimiting was not merely a system of marking boundaries for the villages’ grape crops. The grape varieties that were permitted into each named appellation and methods for growing, harvesting and vinification became law in 1935 and 1936 across all of France’s wine production areas. Grenache was brought to the area as Garnacha, while the southern Rhône was under the Kingdom of Aragón’s rule until the mid-seventeenth century. Grenache dominates both Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s blends as it does most of the wine production of this area of the Mediterranean. Almost always bolstered by the sterner Syrah, thirteen varieties are permitted; Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Counoise and Cinsault then in smaller amounts Vaccarèse, Picpoul Noir, Terret Noir, Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Roussanne and Picardan. Only Château de Beaucastel and Clos des Papes use all in their blends.
Surrounding Châteauneuf-du-Pape are the Côtes du Rhône Villages. These fine ‘parishes’ of wine producers are named on the appellation. Certain larger ‘villages’ have become ACs in their own rite. Most famously: Gigondas; Vacquerays; Cairanne; Beaumes de Venise, even more famous for its Muscat dominated sweet wines; Tavel and Lirac the torch bearers for the regions rosés.
Eastwards towards Provence lies Côtes du Ventoux; southwesterly towards Languedoc is the more Mediterranean Costières de Nîmes; both their reds and rosés are lighter in style. Beyond these ACs a great deal of the general Côtes du Rhône appellation is grown within a broad band of quality and styles.
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