The best wines from Rhône in France

As early as 600 BC, Greek colonists planted the first vines in the Rhône Valley. However, for centuries the Rhône stood in the shadow of Burgundy and Bordeaux. Today, Rhône wines are increasingly appreciated. Some of the most popular grapes in the world originate from the Rhône Valley. Syrah (known as Shiraz outside France) and Viognier are the best known.

Check out our five wines from Rhône

As early as 600 BC, Greek colonists planted the first vines in the Rhône Valley. However, for centuries the Rhône has been overshadowed by Burgundy and Bordeaux. Today, Rhône wines are increasingly appreciated.

Some of the most popular grapes in the world originate from the Rhône Valley. Syrah (known as Shiraz outside France) and Viognier are the best known. Other important red grapes from the Rhône are Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Cinsault. For white wine, Roussanne, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, Clairette, and Bourboulenc are important.

Most wines are made under the Côte du Rhône appellation. This is the largest appellation in France in terms of yield. The AOC Côte du Rhône Villages is usually a level higher in quality. 95 municipalities are allowed to put Villages on the label and only 18 of them the name of their own municipality.

But the most interesting Rhône wines are the Crus. These appellations, such as Condrieu or Châteauneuf-du-Pape, do not refer to the Rhône region, but only to their own region.

The Northern Rhône

The northern part of the region consists of a number of Crus, which lie like a ribbon along the Rhône river. They are small vineyards, which lie on very steep slopes. Without technical aids, the grape harvest is hardly possible here. But the effort is worth it.

The Côte Rôtie in the far north is a famous Cru where high-quality wines are made from Syrah. Just below it lies the tiny Condrieu. It owes its fame to the Viognier grape. It is still considered the best wine region for this grape and the winemakers cannot possibly meet the huge demand.

Cornas and Saint-Péray are two other tiny appellations in the Northern Rhône. The former produces robust red wines from Syrah, the latter is best known for its sparkling wines, although the still white wines from Saint-Péray from Roussanne and Marsanne are also worth a try.

The Hermitage, with its granite soil, is another world-famous appellation for fine Syrah wines. Even better than the neighbouring Crozes-Hermitage, which produces white wines from Marsanne and Roussanne in addition to Syrah red.

The Southern Rhône

Considerably more wine is produced in the south, most of it under the Côte du Rhône or Côte du Rhône Village appellations.

Some interesting Crus from this warm region are Gigondas (both red in the style of Château-Neuf-du-Pape and rosé), Vacqueras (both red, white and rosé), Tavel (famous for its Rosé) and Beaume-de-Venise (known for its lush sweet wines from the Yellow Muscat).

The Ardèche region is on the rise. Good and affordable wines are produced that benefit from cool nights. The wines therefore develop a lot of ripeness in combination with a fresh acidity.

But the most important and by far the most famous Cru of the southern Rhône is of course the Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We currently have five wines from Rhône in our range. You can view all our wines from Rhône here.