Rhône Valley

Inter Rhône dates the region's wine history to the founding of Massalia, a Greek city not far from the Rhône delta, in 600 BC. In the northern Rhône, wine-growing developed in the first century AD, and the Romans, sailing up the Rhône, founded the town of Vienne and planted vineyards. In the 14th century the papacy moved from Rome to Avignon, and the popes planted extensive vineyards around the city: John XXII had a summer residence built at Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and Benedict XII ordered the building of the Palais des Papes. Regulations to guarantee the provenance and quality of 'Coste du Rhône' wines were introduced in 1650, and in 1737 a royal decree required barrels destined for sale or transport to be branded with the letters 'C.D.R'.

• Ancient roots: Inter Rhône says the founding of Massalia in 600 BC was the origin of the first vineyards planted in France
• Papal influence: the Avignon popes, great lovers of the local wines in Inter Rhône's telling, planted extensive vineyards around Avignon in the 14th century
• AOC pioneers: Baron Le Roy, a Châteauneuf-du-Pape grower, championed the appellation cause in the 1930s; Inter Rhône says the specifications he presented became the model for all subsequent AOC decrees, and he presided over the INAO from 1947 to 1967
• Revival: only about 60 hectares of Côte-Rôtie remained planted by 1960 and only a dozen or so hectares of Condrieu by the 1950s; Inter Rhône credits the 1980s with the revival of both

Decanter describes the Rhône Valley as running south from Lyon to the Rhône Delta, a length of approximately 150 miles, divided stylistically and geographically into a much smaller northern part and a much larger southern part. Inter Rhône locates its wines between Vienne and Avignon, bordered by the Massif Central, the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, across the Ardèche, Drôme, Gard, Loire, Rhône and Vaucluse departments. In the north, abrupt slopes with steep gradients extend to milder slopes with terraced plots, and Inter Rhône says northern wines draw their expression from granite, schist and limestone; Jancis Robinson notes that some northern vineyards are so steep that pulley systems have to be used for grapes and equipment. In the south, vast flat plains are protected from strong Mistral winds by hedgerows of cypress and poplar, and the soils are more varied: sand, marl and white limestone, yellow, red or blue clay, rounded pebbles, gravel and calcareous clay.

• Northern Rhône: Inter Rhône labels Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage semi-continental with Mediterranean influences, and describes the Côte-Rôtie climate as largely continental, similar to that of Lyon
• Southern Rhône: Inter Rhône describes the Côtes du Rhône climate as Mediterranean, refreshed by the Mistral wind, with hot, dry summers and low rainfall
• Châteauneuf-du-Pape: Inter Rhône (2026) calls the Mistral a cold, dry wind from the north and gives the appellation less than 650 mm of rain and around 2,800 hours of sunshine per year, on soils of galets roulés (rolled pebbles) mixed with red clay, and sand and sandstone
• Terroir contrast: Inter Rhône describes Hermitage as granitic sand covered with mica-schists and gneiss, with rounded alluvial pebbles closer to the river, and Côte-Rôtie as almost entirely metamorphic rock on slopes reaching gradients of over 60° in places

Inter Rhône credits the diversity of the region's wines to 37 grape varieties. In the north, Syrah reigns over reds while Viognier and Marsanne dominate whites; in the south, Grenache noir is blended with Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan and Cinsault for reds and rosés, and whites are made from Grenache blanc, Clairette, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier. Inter Rhône's 2024 key figures record 34,831 hectares of Grenache noir and 23,481 hectares of Syrah. Decanter notes that in southern appellations other than Châteauneuf-du-Pape a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre might be considered the most typical, one that gave birth to the Australian 'GSM' style. Inter Rhône says single-varietal wines are rare in the Rhône Valley: Cornas reds are single-varietal, Côte-Rôtie, Saint-Joseph, Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage accept both single-varietal wines and blends, and Condrieu and Château-Grillet make Viognier-based whites.

• Northern Rhône Syrah: Jancis Robinson says the great majority of northern wine is made from Syrah, and names Hermitage and Côte Rôtie as the region's most famous wines
• Southern blends: Inter Rhône's Côtes du Rhône rules require red and rosé wines to blend at least 2 of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, with Grenache always included except in the northern part of the vineyards
• Viognier in Condrieu: Viognier is the only grape variety grown in Condrieu, an appellation of 221 hectares in Inter Rhône's 2024 key figures
• Marsanne and Roussanne: Inter Rhône says white Hermitage is made from Marsanne and Roussanne, and red Hermitage may contain up to 15% Roussanne and/or Marsanne

Jancis Robinson names the three biggest family enterprises of the northern Rhône as Marcel Guigal of Côte Rôtie, Michel Chapoutier, who practises biodynamic viticulture, and Paul Jaboulet Aîné; each vinifies its own grapes and also buys in grapes and wine the length of the Rhône valley. Guigal's special Côte Rôtie bottlings La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque, the so-called 'La-La wines', "have become some of the most sought-after bottles in the world", in Jancis Robinson's words. The same source places the merchant house Delas and the family domaine of Jean-Louis Chave in and around Tain and Tournon. In Côte-Rôtie, Inter Rhône describes the Centurie de Probus, a group of around one hundred winemakers who look after the vineyards and their 60 estates.

• E. Guigal (Côte Rôtie): Jancis Robinson says Marcel Guigal's single vineyard wines are sought after worldwide, and attributes the La-La wines' appeal to low yields and uniquely long maturation in new oak
• Chapoutier (Tain l'Hermitage): one of the three biggest northern family houses named by Jancis Robinson, which notes that Michel Chapoutier practises biodynamic viticulture
• Jean-Louis Chave (Hermitage): a family domaine that Jancis Robinson lists among the gifted and determined winemakers in and around Tain and Tournon
• Auguste Clape (Cornas): Jancis Robinson calls him 'the local hero' of an appellation she describes as still underappreciated

Inter Rhône says the Rhône Valley played an active role in establishing French wine appellations. Châteauneuf-du-Pape was one of the first appellations recognised by decree, on 15 May 1936; Côtes du Rhône became an AOC in 1937, the same year as Hermitage, followed by Cornas in 1938 and Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu in 1940. In the Rhône Valley a cru is a communal AOC at the top of the appellation hierarchy (in Inter Rhône's glossary, 1 cru = 1 AOC), and Inter Rhône's 2024 key figures map shows 18 Côtes du Rhône crus. Beneath them sit the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellations, 21 of them bearing a geographical name, and the regional Côtes du Rhône AOC, which spans 172 communes and around 30,000 hectares (Inter Rhône, 2026). The northern crus are Château-Grillet, Condrieu, Cornas, Côte-Rôtie, Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Saint-Péray.

• AOC hierarchy: Decanter reports that the Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône Villages appellations accounted for 57% of the region's total production in 2025, while the crus sit at the top of the hierarchy (Inter Rhône)
• Côtes du Rhône blending rules: accessory varieties may make up to 40% of red and rosé blends, and as of 2024 four adaptation varieties (Rolle, Carignan blanc, Vidoc and Floréal) are authorised up to 10% of the final blend (Inter Rhône)
• Côte-Rôtie rules: the INAO specification names Syrah as the principal variety and Viognier as the accessory variety, allowed interplanted within a limit of 20% of the vines, with Syrah at least 80% of each holding's plantings
• Cornas and Condrieu: Inter Rhône says Syrah is the only authorised grape variety in Cornas and Viognier the only grape variety grown in Condrieu

Hermitage rises on a hill on the left bank above Tain l'Hermitage, whose sister town Tournon lies across a footbridge over the Rhône, according to Jancis Robinson. The Côte-Rôtie slopes are folded above Ampuis, whose January wine market Inter Rhône calls a major, unmissable annual event for the appellation. In the south, Avignon's Palais des Papes was built on the orders of Benedict XII, the third Avignon pope, and John XXII had a summer residence built at Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Inter Rhône).

• Tain l'Hermitage: home to the co-operative Cave de Tain l'Hermitage and, with Tournon, to the merchant houses of Chapoutier, Paul Jaboulet and Delas (Jancis Robinson)
• Ampuis: Inter Rhône points Côte-Rôtie lovers to the town's January wine market
• Avignon and Châteauneuf-du-Pape: the Palais des Papes and the papal summer residence at Châteauneuf-du-Pape recall the 14th-century Avignon papacy (Inter Rhône)
• Southern landscapes: Inter Rhône describes southern vineyards set among garrigue, lavender fields, truffle oak and olive groves

Primary sources (Inter Rhône and INAO): https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/rhone-valley-vineyards, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/territory-and-terroir, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/rhone-valley-vineyards/grape-varieties, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/wine-school/history-vineyards, https://www.vins-rhone.com/sites/vignoble/files/documentation/2025-04/INTER-RHONE-CHIFFRES-CLES-2025-EN-BAT.pdf, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/rhone-valley-vineyards/appellations/aoc-cotes-du-rhone, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/cotes-du-rhone-cru-aoc-chateauneuf-du-pape, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/cotes-du-rhone-cru-aoc-hermitage, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/cotes-du-rhone-cru-aoc-cote-rotie, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/cotes-du-rhone-cru-aoc-condrieu, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/cotes-du-rhone-cru-aoc-cornas, https://www.vins-rhone.com/en/wine-school/glossary/crus, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO2023AOPCoteRotie.pdf, https://www.vins-rhone.com/fr/aoc-cru-des-cotes-du-rhone-chateauneuf-du-pape. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/wine/wine-regions/rhone-valley/, https://www.decanter.com/wine/wine-regions/western-europe/france/rhone/southern-rhone/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/france/northern-rhone. Last verified 2026-09-24