Good Morning!

Moving south in Rhone Valley about 40 miles south of Northern Rhone you will be in Southern Rhone Valley in France.

First fact about Southern Rhone is about 95% of all wines coming from Rhone Valley is from the South.
Second fact is the climate is quite different from the Northern part of Rhone Valley, the north has a continental climate and the southern art of Rhone Valley is Mediterranean climate. Southern Rhone is close to the sea and they also get the blasting winds like they do up north so they have to make sure to protect the vines from wind damage.

Third fact about Southern Rhone is they can and do grown any grapes they want, both white and red varieties.
Fourth fact is Grenache (pronounced gren ahsh) is really the main grape. Grenache is a really dense grape and makes really powerful and bold wines. Grenache is normally blended with other wines to “tame” it just a bit. Alone, Grenache might overwhelm you taste buds, especially when it is young (I am speaking from experience).

There are about 4 main red grapes but there are also are some other lessor utilized reds, here is the list of grapes

Main players, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre (more ved’r), Cinsault or Cinsaut (san soh)
Other reds; Carignan, Picpoul, Terret Noir, Couoise, Nuscardin and Vaccarese.

White varieties: Main grapes:Grenache Blanc and Clairette
Other whites: Roussanne, Bourboulenc, Ugni Blanc, Muscat, Marsanne, Picardan, and Viognier.

When you are looking to try wines from the Southern part of Rhone Valley, look for these names on the labels (since the French, name wines after the area they are grown in, it makes it a little hard to know what grape is in the bottle).

Cotes du Rhone
Cotes du Rhone-Villages
Chateauneuf-du-Pape (this area, produces some of the most incredible blends I have ever tried of French wines)
Gigondas (I love the Syrah’s I have tried from here)
Vacqueyras
Lirac
Tavel (they make crazy great Rose’ wines from this area).

This is just some of my personal experiences and info I have gathered while learning more about Rhone Valley and tomorrow I will share more info about Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It’s a wine and area that has had so many books written about it and I even know one awesome wine store owner who love it so much, he is tattooed with a label from a wine bottle from there!

Much LOVE and wine,
Tammi