Rhone Valley – Wine, Regions and Notable Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC

My notes from a wine class. See notes at end.

Rhône Valley Notes

Warmest growing regions of France. Great wines produced here, and affordable. Syrah and Grenache – grown on glacial rocks, absorbs heat, releases it at night for long, continuous ripening.

• Highest alcohol of wines here – minimum of 13%.
• Brix levels (average) – 26° high.
• Big bodied wines.
• Mistral winds – dehydrating effect, concentrating the juice, brings up the brix level, increasing the alcohol.

Côte de Rhône wines have a hierarchy. Generic Côtes de Rhône are known as simple wines, Côte de Rhône AOC. Côtes-du-Rhône Villages AOC is next and slightly better in quality than simple wines. Then, there are the Côtes-du-Rhône Villages + a named village wines. These have the authority to place their village on the label. Only the Crus level may put only their village name without the ‘Côte de Rhône” for example: Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Hermitage and Beaumes de Venise (see below).

Important AOC’s in Rhône Valley

Rhône valley has two major regions – north and south, with important appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) in each.

Côte-Rôtie AOC

The name Côte-Rôtie means ‘roasted slopes.’

Syrah is here, blended with white grape Viognier if Syrah is too robust. Guigal is négociant for the area. Côte-Rôtie is located in the northern part of the Rhône valley.

Hermitage AOC

Syrah here, as well, and is used for all red wines. For white wines: Roussanne (caramelized flavors) and Marsanne (big dry oak flavor). Very robust wines, red and white. Hermitage is located in the northern region.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC

Complex red and white blends. Châteauneuf-du-Pape means “Pope’s new castle.” There is as many as 13 different grapes in the mix (as of 2009, though, that number has increased to 18), with typically 5-6 varieties and mostly Grenache which results in a spicy and peppery finish. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is located in the southern region.

Beaumes de Venise AOC

Produces both red and white. The white grape Muscat (Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains) is used to produce the Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, a sweet fortified wine. Beaumes de Venise is in the southern region.

Tavel AOC

Tavel produces rosé wines only, using mainly Grenache but also Cinsaut. Tavel is located in the southern region.

When I was 19, I was a student of Western Culinary Institute in Portland, OR, before Career Education Corporation and Le Cordon Bleu took it over. I graduated in 1993, and at that time WCI was a great place to learn. Many of the pans I cooked on interestingly still had HMCI (Horst Mager Culinary Institute) inscribed on the handles. Above were notes that I found in a file folder from a wine class that I took when I was a student. The notes are from my personal tasting notes. Enjoy!