And in the middle flows the Rhône. In the valley, between Ampuis and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 180 kilometers away, the mighty river flows majestically, linking the northern and southern parts of the region. Along its banks, heroic winegrowers produce some of the best wines in the world. Although their reputation has not been built on the notion of grands crus, as in Bordeaux or Burgundy, the “treasures” of Guigal, the Chapelle de Jaboulet Aîné, the parcel selections of Chapoutier, the Hermitage de Chave, the Côte Brune de Jamet, Château Grillet, and Château Rayas are well worth it. These great vintages, made for aging and increasingly difficult to find because they are so exclusive, fetch high prices in France and abroad.
The Rhône Valley has one of the oldest vineyards, dating back to the Roman conquest. “Côte-Rôtie has more than 24 centuries of continuous viticulture, an extraordinary timescale,” observes Philippe Guigal. In the 20th century, some appellations in the north almost disappeared due to phylloxera and the two world wars that took away the men.
As for the post-war generation, they were more attracted to the nascent industry in the Lyon basin than to the hard work on the steep slopes of Condrieu, Côte-Rôtie, Cornas, Saint-Joseph, and Hermitage.
It took visionaries such as Étienne and Marcel Guigal and Georges Vernay to start replanting vines and betting on quality. A sepia photo displayed at the Vernay estate recalls this crazy work, carried out from 1953 onwards with pickaxes and jackhammers. The vineyards are described as “heroic” because of their dizzying slopes, which can reach up to 60%! “Being a winemaker here is not just a profession, it's a profession of faith,” says Christine Vernay, who brilliantly took over from her father in 1996. These terroirs are powerful places, which are reflected in the bottle."
Her Condrieu Coteau du Vernon is a wine of great nobility, with a complex bouquet of white fruits, citrus and spices. Nowhere else in the world does Viognier, this aromatic white grape variety, express itself better than on these slopes. The same is true of Syrah, a red grape variety that originated in the Rhône. This variety, with its peppery and violet notes, and even truffle as it ages, is naturally fresh and balanced here.
In the northern Rhône, the richness of the wines comes from their geological diversity, due to the influence of the Alps on one side of the river and the Massif Central on the other. On the left bank, in Crozes-Hermitage, the soil is composed of rounded pebbles: the Syrah is tender. On the right bank, in Côte-Rôtie, it is granitic, but a stream, the Reynard, divides the vineyard in two: upstream, the Côte Brune, rich in iron oxide and manganese; downstream, the Côte Blonde, composed of gneiss and clay. The former produces a deep, intense wine, while the latter produces fine, subtle juices. “Burgundy with the density of the South,” notes Loïc Jamet, producer of Côte-Rôtie wines of incomparable richness. Further south, “Cornas produces sunny, wild wines that call for game,” notes Olivier Clape, who produces one of the best. As for the Saint-Joseph variety, it was already appreciated at the tables of kings in the 16th century.
Weddings of terroirs
And then there is Hermitage. In the 19th century, it was already the most prestigious and expensive. This hill, which rises to an altitude of 320 meters, is at the geographical crossroads of all these terroirs. This is what makes this wine unique.
Traditionally—like other red wines from the north—Hermitage is a blended wine, not in the Bordeaux sense, where different grape varieties are blended, but rather from plots with varied soils. This is the approach taken by the great Jean-Louis Chave and the Jaboulet Aîné house, taken over in 2006 by the Frey family, owners of Château La Lagune in Médoc. This flagship producer makes two high-quality cuvées: La Chapelle, a red wine made from aged Syrah grapes, and Chevalier de Stérimberg, a white wine made from Marsanne and Roussanne grapes. “A great wine is based on a great terroir,” notes Caroline Frey, who blends three reds “to create a harmonious marriage, combining fleshiness, delicacy, and length.” In 2026, a new winery, designed by Bjarke Ingles Group, a Danish architectural firm, will be entirely dedicated to these two wines.
First bottle in 1918
Since 1989, M. Chapoutier has been taking a different approach by vinifying single-vineyard vintage. These selections, L'Ermite, De l'Oré and Le Pavillon, in red and white, rated 100/100 by the late Robert Parker, are comparable to Burgundy's grands crus. “Hermitage can stand on its own,” explains Maxime Chapoutier. "The idea is to let each terroir express its specific characteristics: the austerity of the granite produces a powerful wine, while on the lower slopes, the Syrah is more exotic. As for the whites, they are real gems." The Guigal winery was a pioneer of this approach in Côte-Rôtie, creating its famous “lalala's” in 1966: La Mouline, then La Landonne and La Turque. A new vintage, La Renarde, will be available in 2026.
South of Valence, everything is warmer and the soil changes. In the southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape reigns supreme, the most famous wine, acclaimed during his lifetime by American critic Robert Parker. Grenache, rich and generous, is king. “Châteauneuf is no longer an alcoholic wine,” points out Nicolas Brunier, from the Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, whose first bottle dates back to 1918. “If the grapes are harvested at the right time, the wine retains its balance.” It can even be light and fresh, as at Château Rayas.
This legendary wine, which every wine lover dreams of tasting one day, is atypical. There are no rounded pebbles and little clay, characteristics of the appellation, but sand, as well as hectares of woods, three times more than vineyards, which, planted facing north, benefit from their shade when the sun goes down. “At the end of each day, the temperature drops eight degrees,” says the owner, Emmanuel Reynaud. "The grapes take an extra month to ripen. As they are harvested at a cooler time than the others, their freshness and finesse really come through. " In the cellar, there are barrels that are between eighty and a hundred years old! The juice is astonishingly clear and has phenomenal length on the palate. “We don't make much wine like this anymore,” admits Emmanuel Reynaud. “And the older it gets, the more the terroir comes through.” Rayas bucks the trend; it can be kept for thirty or forty years. Diamonds are forever.
An article written by Romain Rosso, featured in issue 9 of OniriQ magazine.
Translated by Bethszabee Garner
