Rhône Valley
The Rhône Valley is the oldest established winemaking region in France, dating back 600 years before the Romans. The Rhône River is one of the most interesting wine rivers in the world. Starting in the Alps south of the Swiss city of Lucern, it flows west through the vineyards of the Valais and then northwest into Lake Geneva. From there it flows south through the vineyards of Savoie and then west to join the Saône at Lyons. From there, it turns south for some 250 miles and flows into the Mediterranean Sea west of Marseille. It is on this last stretch, between the city of Vienne in the north and the city of Avignon in the south, that the marvelous wines of the Rhône Valley are produced.
Although the Rhône is considered to be one wine region, it can effectively be split into two distinct parts based on climate and grape varieties. The northern Rhône and southern Rhône are separated by a scant 37 miles, but each region’s wines have very different styles. The steep slopes of the northern Rhône Valley account for 5 percent of the total wine production whereas the southern Rhône Valley produces a whopping 95 percent of the total wine.
The grapes and grape combinations used differ as well. Reds from the northern Rhône are dominated by Syrah, while in the south the wines tend to be Grenache-based with Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault making up the bulk of the balance.
