Cotes du Rhone
Côtes du Rhône Wine - Buy Wine from the Côtes du Rhône Region of France
The gargantuan Côtes du Rhône appellation, which was created in 1937, now has over 42,000 hectares under vine, producing over 227 million litres of wine a year. In addition, almost 6000 hectares qualify as Côtes du Rhône – ‘Villages’ – wines from the most favourable locations that are subject to lower yields and stricter regulation. Over 95% of Côtes du Rhône is cultivated in the sunkissed, wind-swept vineyards of the Southern Rhône between Montélimar and Avignon, although there are some small parcels of vines qualifying further north. Production is overwhelmingly centred on red wines, made from Grenache-based blends augmented with lesser volumes of Syrah,Mourvèdre and Cinsault, but some increasingly good dry whites and rosés are being made. Inevitably, standards are variable in such a vast vine area but the region boasts many competent and competitive co-opératives so base quality tends to be high.
The success of Côtes du Rhône wines is not just down to canny marketing, generally speaking they provide unpretentious, versatile, robust country wines that are good value. Furthermore, the last decade has witnessed an outstanding vintage run, with the notable exception of the rain-plagued 2002 vintage. The 2007 and 2009 vintages were exceptionally good and should yield rewarding drinking over the next 3-5+ years. As the saying goes: ‘If it isn’t broken don’t fix it’
White Wine
Red Wine