An exploration of the Cotes du Rhone with Author Matt Walls

Looking Into Wine

In this episode, I spoke to Matt Walls author of the book The wines of Rhone about the Southern Rhone with a focus on the Cote du Rhone.
To best understand the appellation system is a pyramid with three distinctive stages for the Cotes du Rhone - Cote du Rhone, Cote Du Rhone Village, cotes du Rhone Named village and then the Cru see picture here:
https://boutinot-rhone.com/news?start=18
With Matt we talked about how to best understand the terroirs of the Southern Rhone, as there are so many of them, it says that it is best to divide the region into three parts based on their geological period, but it has always been difficult for me to remember the various parts but this has helped immensely.
We also talked about varieties that are taking afoot in the region in the last few years and their use in the blend, Cotes du Rhone is always a blend!
I'm always being curious about the fluidity of the appellation with villages rising to the top of the Cotes du Rhone appellation and then becoming Crus in their own right - Mat has described the process and announced a new (23rd) village that is going to be announced next year!
Here is the list of all the Villages
Chusclan, Gadagne, Laudun, Massif d'Uchaux, Nyons, Plan de Dieu, Puymeras, Roaix, Rochegude, Rousset, Sablet, Saint-Andeol, Saint-Gervais, Saint-Maurice, Saint-Pantaleon, Sainte-Cecile, Seguret, Signargues, Suze-la-Rousse, Vaison-la-Romaine, Valreas, Visan
Some other useful links on the topic
https://www.cotesdurhone.com/en/
https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-cotes+du+rhone
https://www.wine-uncovered.com/rhone-info/appellations/cotes-du-rhone-villages/
https://www.mattwalls.co.uk/region/rhone/
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