Rhône Valley is a region in France named after the Rhone river which ‘runs between two great uplands, the Alps to the east and the Massif Central to the west,’ (Hugh Johnson & Hubrecht Duijker: 1987, p.19).
History: In the 19th century leading Bordeaux chateaux were open about beefing their clarets up with Syrah from the Rhone by printing ‘Hermitagè on bottles meaning the wines had been ‘Hermitaged’. This ended with the introduction of appellation laws.
It took Etienne Guigal and his son Marcel to redeem the region in the 1970s and 1980s.
Generic denominations: Comtés Rhodaniens IGP. | Côtes de Rhône AOC. | Côtes du Rhône-Villages AOC.
Sub-regions: Château-Grillet AOC. | Châteauneuf du Pape AOC. | Châtillon-en-Diois AOC. | Clairette de Die AOC. | Condrieu AOC (northern Rhône). | Cornas AOC (northern Rhône). | Costières de Nîmes AOC (Southern Rhône). | Côte Rôtie AOC (northern Rhône). | Coteaux de Die AOC. | Coteaux de Pierrevert AOC. | Coteaux de Tricastin AOC. | Côtes du Luberon AOC. | Côtes du Vivarais AOC. | Côtes du Ventoux AOC. | Crémant de Die AOC. | Crozes-Hermitage AOC (northern Rhône). | Diois (zone). | Gigondas AOC. | Grignan-les-Adhémar AOC: | Hermitage AOC (northern Rhône). | Lirac AOC. | Luberon AOC. | Saint-Joseph AOC (northern Rhône). | Saint-Péray AOC (northern Rhône). | Tavel AOC. | Vacqueyras AOC. | Ventoux AOC.
Bibliography
John Livingstone-Learmonth, ‘Sealed with a kiss’, Decanter, September 2008, p.42-44.