Côtes du Rhône & Côtes du Rhône Villages

"Many wines carrying the Gigondas, Vacqueyras and especially Cotes du Rhone appellation are excellent value"
(Jancis Robinson MW - jancisrobinson.com, Purple Pages, January 2006)
 

We work with    Brusset    Charité   Famille Perrin    Xavier Vignon

Around 90% of the entire production of the Rhône Valley is designated Côtes du Rhône - 40,200 hectares and 6,000 wine makers make the regional Côtes du Rhône one of the leading appellations red wine producers in the region.. The quality of these wines varies from one producer to the next but there are numerous styles of good to exceptional wines to suit all palates at very reasonable prices. Generally it is a matter of discovering personal favourites.

In 1953, the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation was granted to four villages in the Vaucluse and Gard départements (Gigondas and Cairanne, Chusclan and Laudun) imposing stricter controls including permitted grape varieties, maximum yields and minimum alcohol content, with the aim of producing better wines than those of the Côtes du Rhône. Over the years other villages were added and Gigondas was subsequently elevated to its own appellation, followed in 1990 by Vacqueyras.  In a rather surprising move, in 2006, two more villages were similarly upgraded: Beaumes-de-Venise and Vinsobres.

There are numerous geographical areas ("villages") entitled to apply their name to the appellation. Additionally, about 15% of Villages wines are grown in areas which are not entitled to attach their name to the appellation but which may call their wine Côtes du Rhône Villages. One main difference between the two tiers is the maximum permitted yields: 42 hl/ha for named villages, 45 hl/ha for other Villages wines. To keep life simple, we recommend that you look for particular growers rather than specific villages.

Cairanne was long regarded as the best of the named villages thanks to established stars such as the Brusset family but has srecently been upgraded, alomng with other villages including Rasteau and Beaumes-de-Venise, to cru status, putting on a par, in theory at least, with Gigondas and Chateauneuf-du-Pape. At the named villages level, Signargues in the Gard departement has shown itself capable of producing some extremely good wines with Domaine de la Charité probably the best producer here.

Stylistically and qualitatively the wines generally follow the patterns seen in Gigondas and Vacqueyras - rather inevitably since, in several cases, they share borders with these appellations.

Grape varieties.
Climate and the types of soil have influenced the type of grape varieties under cultivation. Each variety conveys its own specific character, which, when blended with other varieties, results in the production of well balanced finely tuned wines.

Yields for Villages wines are lower than their generic cousins (45hl/ha compared with 52hl/ha) and those for names villages lower still at 42hl/ha. Minimum alcohol is higher: 12% compared with 11% for Côtes du Rhône wines.