thumb|350px|Detailed map of the Rhône wine region, with separate maps of Southern Rhône ("Zoom A") and Northern Rhône ("Zoom B")
Côtes du Rhône () is a wine-growing Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) for the Rhône wine region of France, which may be used throughout the region, also in those areas which are covered by other AOCs. In a limited part of the region, the Côtes-du-Rhône Villages AOC may be used, in some cases together with the name of the commune.
Côtes du Rhône are the basic AOC wines of the Rhône region, and exist as red, white and rosé wines, generally dominated by Grenache for reds and rosés, or Grenache blanc for whites.
History
Wines have been produced in the region since pre-Roman times, and those from the right bank were the favourite wines of kings and the papal community in Avignon at the time of the schism.
In the mid-17th century the right-bank district of Côte du Rhône had issued regulations to govern the quality of its wine and in 1737 the king ordered that casks of wine shipped from the nearby river port of Roquemaure, directly on the right bank 12 km north of Avignon on the left bank, should be branded with the letters CDR to introduce a system of protecting its origin. The rules for its Côte du Rhône thus formed the very early basis of today's nationwide AOC system governed by the INAO. The name was changed to Côtes du Rhône when the left-bank wines were included in the appellation some hundred years later. The appellation received full recognition by a High Court decision in 1937, and the rules were revised in 1996 and 2001 to take into account new conditions of production.
Roquemaure is known as "La Capitale des Amoureux", or "The Capital of Lovers". In 1868 the relics of St. Valentine arrived after being purchased from Rome by Maximilian Richard, a local dignitary, as it was believed that the relics would protect the vines from phylloxera which ravaged the vineyards in 1866. The relics are kept in the 14th century collegiate church and each year the St Valentine Festival of the Kiss attracts over 20,000 people.
Reporter Pierre-Marie Doutrelant revealed that "the growers of Côtes du Rhône planted mourvèdre and syrah, two low-yield grapes that give the wine finesse, strictly for the benefit of government inspectors. Then, when the inspectors left, they grafted cheap high-yield vines—grenache and carignan—back onto the vines" (Prial)
The wines
Côtes du Rhône
At the generic level, the official AOC Côtes du Rhône region stretches 200 km from Vienne in the north to Avignon in the south and from the foothills of the Massif Central in the west to the fore-slopes of the Vaucluse and Luberon mountains east of the town of Orange. 171 communes in the French departments of Ardèche, Bouches du Rhône, Drôme, Gard, Loire, and Vaucluse are concerned with production from the 83,839 (2008) hectares of vineyard. The average yield is 52 hectolitres per hectare. Wines of all three colours must have a minimum alcohol content of 11%.
The average annual production of CDR of around 3.3 million hectolitres – 419 million bottles – (2005/2006), is assured by 5,292 concerns including 5,202 growers, 875 private producers, 70 co-operative wineries, and 20 merchant/producers and blenders, making it one of the largest single appellation regions in the world.
Côtes du Rhône Villages (named village)
Next in the hierarchy, 18 of the Côtes du Rhône Village appellations are authorized to include their village name on the label. With approximately 6,500 hectares under cultivation, the average yield is approximately 37 hectolitres per hectare.
Laudun,
Massif d'Uchaux (red only),
Plan de Dieu (red only),
Puyméras (red only),
Roaix,
Rochegude,
Rousset-les-Vignes,
Sablet,
Saint Gervais,
Saint Maurice,
Saint-Pantaléon-les-Vignes,
Séguret,
Signargues (red only),
Valréas,
Visan.
Crus
At the most demanding level of distinction, a total of 17 crus are allowed to be recognized by their village name without requiring the mention of Côtes du Rhône on the label. With the unique exception of Château-Grillet, a white septentrional within the AOC Condrieu, a feature of the nomenclature of CDR wines is that at the top level they are named only after their villages, and not after châteaux as is usual for Bordeaux wines.
Tavel is a rosé only, very light and dry, which is usually drunk chilled.
Beaumes de Venise AOC,
Château-Grillet AOC,
Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC,
Condrieu AOC,
Cornas AOC,
Côte-Rôtie AOC,
Crozes-Hermitage AOC,
Gigondas AOC,
Hermitage AOC,
Lirac AOC,
Rasteau AOC,
Saint Joseph AOC,
Saint Péray AOC,
Tavel AOC,
Vacqueyras AOC,
Vinsobres AOC, and
Cairanne AOC
Grape varieties
A large number of varieties are allowed in the Côtes du Rhône AOC. The allowed grape varieties, by colour of the wine, are indicated below. Main grape varieties for the respective colour are indicated by "M", supplementary varieties (not designated for white wines) by "S", and accessory varieties by "(A)".
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
! Variety || Red and rosé wines || White wines
|-
| Bourboulenc || (A) || M
|-
| Brun Argenté (locally called Camarèse or Vaccarèse) || (A) ||
|-
| Carignan || (A) ||
|-
| Cinsaut || (A) ||
|-
| Clairette blanche || (A) || M
|-
| Clairette rose || (A) ||
|-
| Counoise || (A) ||
|-
| Grenache blanc || (A) || M
|-
| Grenache gris || (A) ||
|-
| Grenache noir || M ||
|-
| Marsanne || (A) || M
|-
| Marselan || (A) ||
|-
| Mourvèdre || S ||
|-
| Muscardin || (A) ||
|-
| Piquepoul blanc || (A) || (A)
|-
| Piquepoul noir || (A) ||
|-
| Roussanne || (A) || M
|-
| Syrah || S ||
|-
| Terret noir || (A) ||
|-
| Ugni blanc || (A) || (A)
|-
| Viognier || (A) || M
|}
The rules for the proportion of main, supplementary and accessory grape varieties are the following: