Côtes du Rhône AOC

Inter Rhône dates the valley's winemaking to at least 125 BC, when the Romans founded the town and vineyards of Vienne, and its history page describes the Gallo-Roman villa of Molard, near the Rhône at Donzère, as the most important Roman winery identified to date. The INAO cahier des charges records planting restrictions to protect quality from 1615 in the right-bank district then called 'la Côte du Rhône', while Inter Rhône dates the first regulations guaranteeing provenance and quality to 1650. In 1737 an order of the Conseil d'Etat required the letters 'CDR' and the vintage to be marked on the barrels of about ten communes around Roquemaure, according to the INAO. Inter Rhône says the name became 'Côtes du Rhône' in the mid-19th century, when it was extended to the left-bank vineyards, and that the district courts of Tournon and Uzès legally validated its reputation in 1936. The AOC was recognised by the decree of 19 November 1937, and the Villages tier followed with the decree of 2 November 1966.

• Inter Rhône credits Baron Le Roy, a Châteauneuf-du-Pape grower, with advocating for Côtes du Rhône wines in the 1930s; he presided over the INAO from 1947 to 1967
• In 1864 the agronomist Jules Guyot, reporting to Napoleon III, used 'Côtes du Rhône' in the plural for the vineyard running from Saint-Gilles to Tournon, according to the INAO cahier des charges
• Côtes du Rhône became an AOC in 1937, and the INAO cahier des charges records later delimitation approvals by INAO's national committee in February 1994, September 1996 and November 2014
• The Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation was established by decree on November 2, 1966, with a further decree on August 25, 1967, according to Inter Rhône

The INAO describes the geographical area as the natural region of the Rhône Valley, stretching between Vienne and Avignon across six départements on both banks of the river. Inter Rhône names them as Ardèche, Drôme, Gard, Loire, Rhône and Vaucluse, while the commune list in the modified cahier des charges approved by INAO's national committee in 2025 also includes three communes of the Isère: Chasse-sur-Rhône, Seyssuel and Vienne. According to the INAO, production is concentrated in the south, from Avignon to Donzère, while the northern part is more oriented toward the crus, and north of the Montélimar parallel (44°33') the rules adapt the grape mix and ripeness requirements. The INAO describes the southern climate as Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and low annual rainfall, and the northern part as temperate continental, with rain falling mainly in autumn and late winter. The Mistral, a north wind the INAO calls often violent and always drying, blows on average 120 days a year, clearing the skies and favouring sunshine of more than 2,500 hours a year, and the INAO credits it with protecting vines from fungal disease. Soils, per the INAO, range from soils on river terraces to soils on marl and soft limestone and erosion soils of marl, sand, sandstone or molasse.

• Inter Rhône counts 172 communes in the producing area and says the vineyards stretch from Vienne to Avignon
• The Mistral blows on average 120 days a year, and the mountains and hills framing the valley create a corridor (venturi) effect that strengthens it, according to the INAO
• Inter Rhône describes five main soil types; rocky clay soils, pebbles and stony deposits on hills and slopes release stored heat at night and suit wines with good ageing potential, while loess and sandy soils suit red and rosé wines and some lighter reds
• Inter Rhône describes the climate as Mediterranean, refreshed by the Mistral, with hot, dry summers, sometimes violent storms, low rainfall and rare snow

Under the INAO cahier des charges, red and rosé wines rest on three principal varieties: Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah. Each estate's red and rosé plantings must be at least 70% principal varieties, with Grenache at least 30% (except for estates north of the Montélimar parallel) and Syrah and Mourvèdre together at least 20%. In the blend, the wines combine at least two principal varieties, always including Grenache, with principal varieties at 60% or more; north of the Montélimar parallel a wine may come from a single principal variety. Inter Rhône says Grenache noir brings fruit flavours, warmth and body, while Syrah and Mourvèdre give spicy flavours, good colour and firm structure. White wines draw on six principal varieties, Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier, which must make up at least 80% of the white plantings. Inter Rhône counts 23 authorised varieties plus four VIFA adaptation varieties, which as of 2024 may make up to 10% of the final blend. The INAO text gives reds as 93% of production, rosés 4% and whites 3%.

• Grenache: at least 30% of an estate's red and rosé plantings south of the Montélimar parallel, and a mandatory part of the blend there (INAO)
• Syrah and Mourvèdre: together at least 20% of red and rosé plantings (INAO); Inter Rhône credits them with spice, colour and firm structure
• White wines draw on Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier as principal varieties; the INAO describes them as floral and round, sometimes with exotic notes
• The four VIFA varieties are Rolle (Vermentino), Carignan blanc and the disease-resistant hybrids Vidoc and Floréal, per Inter Rhône; the INAO also caps them at 5% of an estate's declared Côtes du Rhône area

The INAO cahier des charges puts production in the hands of more than 1,000 private estates and nearly 5,000 growers grouped in 65 cooperative wineries, and JancisRobinson.com calls co-operative wineries extremely important in the southern Rhône. It also notes that a significant proportion of southern Rhône wine is shipped north in bulk to be sold with a Tain or Tournon address on the label. Cooperation has deep roots: in 1929 Cairanne set up its own cooperative cellar, the same year the Syndicat Général des Vignerons des Côtes du Rhône was founded, according to Inter Rhône. In the north, Maison Guigal was founded in 1946 by Etienne Guigal in Ampuis, at the heart of Côte-Rôtie, and the house gives its Côtes du Rhône red as a blend of 50% Syrah, 40% Grenache and 10% Mourvèdre aged 18 months in foudres. JancisRobinson.com notes that many producers make a Côtes du Rhône alongside a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and names Château de Fonsalette as Rayas's Côtes du Rhône label.

• More than 1,000 private estates and nearly 5,000 growers in 65 cooperative wineries produce the appellation, according to the INAO cahier des charges
• Cairanne's cooperative cellar dates from 1929, according to Inter Rhône
• Maison Guigal (founded 1946, Ampuis): its Côtes du Rhône red blends 50% Syrah, 40% Grenache and 10% Mourvèdre, per the house
• JancisRobinson.com names Château de Fonsalette as Rayas's Côtes du Rhône label

Côtes du Rhône AOC sits at the base of the Rhône hierarchy. The base appellation covers 172 communes, according to Inter Rhône, and the INAO rules require Grenache Noir to make up at least 30% of an estate's red and rosé plantings south of the Montélimar parallel, with Syrah and Mourvèdre combined at a minimum of 20%. The intermediate tier, Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC (established 1966 to 1967), covers 95 communes in four southern departments and imposes stricter yield limits and higher minimum alcohol requirements, according to Inter Rhône and the INAO cahier des charges. Within that tier, 21 named geographical designations may appear on the label for wines from delimited zones meeting even more demanding standards, as listed in the INAO cahier des charges. The crus sit at the apex, known in the INAO cahier des charges as the Crus des Côtes du Rhône, in both the southern and northern parts of the zone; Laudun became a standalone cru in 2024, according to Inter Rhône.

• Base AOC (INAO): yield 51 hl/ha, with a ceiling (rendement butoir) of 60 hl/ha; minimum natural alcohol 11% south of the Montélimar parallel and 10.5% north of it; white wines at least 80% principal varieties in the plantings
• Côtes du Rhône Villages (INAO): 44 hl/ha, or 41 hl/ha for wines with a geographical name; minimum natural alcohol 12%, rising to 12.5% for reds with a geographical name; Grenache at least 40% of red and rosé plantings
• The 21 geographical names include Séguret, Sablet, Plan de Dieu, Valréas, Visan and Signargues (INAO); Cairanne, formerly a Côtes du Rhône Villages with its own name, became a cru on 29 June 2016 and is not among the 21 geographical names in the current INAO text
• Red and rosé Côtes du Rhône may carry the mention 'primeur' or 'nouveau', and such wines must show the vintage on the label (INAO)

Much of the appellation's history can be traced on the ground. Inter Rhône describes the Dentelles de Montmirail as a huge bar of worn and scalloped limestone, one of the southern reliefs formed from layers of river and marine sediment, alongside Mont Ventoux. In Avignon, Benedict XII, the third of the Avignon popes, ordered the building of the Palais des Papes, and John XXII, the second, had a summer residence built at Châteauneuf-du-Pape, according to Inter Rhône's history page. At Laudun, the Camp de César, a major archaeological site on a vast fortified plateau, was the Romans' vantage point over the Rhône. The INAO cahier des charges says Pliny praised the wines of the many hillsides along the Ouvèze, listing villages there such as Rasteau, Roaix, Vaison-la-Romaine, Séguret, Sablet, Beaumes-de-Venise and Gigondas.

• The Dentelles de Montmirail and Mont Ventoux are reliefs formed from river and marine sediments in the southern Rhône, per Inter Rhône
• Avignon's Palais des Papes was built on the order of Benedict XII, the third Avignon pope, according to Inter Rhône
• Laudun's Camp de César is a major archaeological site on a vast fortified plateau overlooking the Rhône, according to Inter Rhône
• Inter Rhône describes the 95 Côtes du Rhône Villages communes as running from the Drôme Provençale to the banks of the Durance and from the Ardèche to the Pont du Gard

Primary sources (INAO, Inter Rhône and Maison Guigal): https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO2026AOPCotesduRhone.pdf, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO2026AOPCotesduRhoneVillages.pdf, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/rhone-valley-vineyards/appellations/aoc-cotes-du-rhone, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/aoc-cotes-du-rhone-villages, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/wine-school/history-vineyards, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/territory-and-terroir, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/cotes-du-rhone-cru-aoc-laudun, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/cotes-du-rhone-cru-aoc-cairanne, https://www.guigal.com/en/wine/cotes-du-rhone-red/, https://www.guigal.com/en/maison-guigal/our-history/. Secondary sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/france/southern-rhone, https://www.decanter.com/wine/wine-regions/rhone-valley/, https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews/france/rhone/e-guigal-cotes-du-rhone-rhone-france-2019-66754/. Last verified 2026-09-24