Home Inside information
southern Rhône

Exploring southern Rhône differences

Richard Hemming MW headshot
Richard Hemming MW
Tuesday 24 September 2019
Gigondas vineyard with Dentelles de Montmirail background

An exploration of the southern Rhône beyond Châteauneuf. See the accompanying tasting notes here. And see this guide for our full coverage of Rhône 2017.

With a subject as complex as wine, generalisations are not just inevitable but necessary, and one of the most enduring is that all southern Rhône wine is modelled on Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

It’s an understandable supposition. CNDP is not just the most famous wine of the region, recognisable from its initials alone, but one of the world’s best-recognised wine names. We learn that Châteauneuf was the prototypical appellation in 1923, created in part to protect its reputation...