GRAPE ESCAPES - RHÔNE WINE TASTING TOURS
Wine Tasting Holidays and Trips for Wine Lovers
Grape Escapes is a specialist French wine tour operator, offering a broad range of wine tasting tours and trips to the vineyards in the main French wine regions: Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, The Rhône and The Loire.
Rhône Wines
Unlike Bordeaux or Burgundy, there is no official classification of Rhône wines. The only AOC and therefore the lowest classification for Rhône AOC wine is the Côtes du Rhône AOC, which is produced primarily in the Southern Rhône, although it covers both sub-regions. This is because not only is the Northern Rhône much smaller in terms of vineyard surface, it is also covered by well-known appellations which command higher prices.
The Côte du Rhône-villages does not generally allow for the village name to be displayed on the bottle, however this is permitted in 19 communes. Finally, there are 15 appellations which display the name of the Cru and not Côtes du Rhône. Amongst these are Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In some cases, vineyard names are also displayed on the labels, although this does not affect the official status of the appellation.
The Southern Rhône is most famous for its big red wines; in particular the wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape can be superb. However, the less famous wines found in the villages surrounding the Dentelles offer some very attractive wines at a fraction of the price. In particular, some of the winemakers in the villages of Gigondas, Vacqueryas and Rasteau are currently producing some excellent wines.
Whilst the majority of wine produced in the region is red, there is also a small production of rosé and dry white wines. The region is also responsible for several sweet / fortified wines including the Muscat de Beaumes de Venise and some sweet Rasteau’s.
The French AOC rules about which grapes can be used in the region are at their most broad in the southern Rhône; for example up to 13 varieties can be used in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and 22 varieties in Gigondas. However, the principal variety used across the region is the Grenache grape. This produces rich and warm wines with a particularly high alcohol content. Other important varieties include Syrah (Shiraz) & Mourvedre.
The wines of the Northern Rhône are slightly different to those of the Southern Rhône because the climates differ slightly, with the Northern Rhône being cooler. The red wines produced here can be identified by green olive and smoky bacon aromas and the Syrah grape is the only grape variety that is permitted in red AOC wines from the Northern Rhône. AOC rules permit the blending of Syrah grapes with the white grapes of Viognier, Marsanne and Rousanne, however this is only practised widely in the Côte-Rôtie appellation.