Of course, we don't mean that you should plant your own vineyards and terraces, like the Romans did. But rather that you enjoy the special wines from the two northernmost appellations of the Northern Rhône, namely Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu. For 2,000 years, these have been the cherries on the Rhone Valley's wine cake.
Text: Kees Verplanke | Image: Unsplash
After the Bordeaux region, the Rhône is the largest French wine region. Most wine comes from the southern part between Valence and Avignon: 85 per cent, with well-known names like Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Vacqueyras. Fine wines indeed, but for the northern part between Vienne and Valence, where only 15 per cent of Rhone wine is made, the rule is small, but even finer. That certainly holds true for the little ones in area and hectolitres: Côte-Rôtie (330 hectares, 12,200 hectolitres) and Condrieu (220 hectares, 8,100 hectolitres).
Here, the steep slopes on the right side of Rhône bank with its distinctive goblets (large boulders) made great wines. Already in Roman times, these were highly prized. However, the grapes were local, recent scientific research showed. From the late 19th and well into the 20th century, however, it was in bad shape. The first cause of the downturn was Phylloxera, the American phylloxera that caused vineyards to be completely uprooted and replanted on resistant, American vines. This was followed by World War I, industrialisation which meant that hardly anyone wanted to do the heavy work on the steep slopes (up to 60 per cent) and World War II. Until the 1960s, a kilo of apricots yielded more than a litre of wine and many vineyards were abandoned.
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