L’A.O.C Côte Rôtie
An exceptional red wine, intensely complex, deep and powerful. The expression of a rare terroir for a wine rich in feeling.
Varieties and training
The red wine made with the Syrah grapes is powerful, complex and tannic. It is possible to add up to 20% of grape viognier. The permitted basis yield per hectare is 40 hectolitres. The vine plants are traditionally carried on with two wooden poles to adapt to the type of soil. The typical pruning is the “gobelet”.
The 300 hectares of the “appellation” are spread over three communes: St Cyr Sur-Rhone, Ampuis and Tupin-Semons. It is also the most nordic of the Côtes du Rhône wines. The territory is located on the right bank of the Rhone, on steep terraced hills (called “chaillets”) overlooking the Rhone. These chaillets are maintained with dry stone walls to retain the land and thus fight against erosion. These walls store the sun’s heat and give it back, hence the name Côte Rôtie (“roasted coast”)...
History
This is one of the oldest vineyards of France. The Romans developed it a lot. Côte Rôtie gained the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) in 1940.
- Coupe géologique
The terroir
Côte Rôtie includes two different areas: Côte Brune, north and Côte Blonde, south. They are similar because they are mainly composed of granite rock. Côte Brune has mainly degraded shale clay. Côte Blonde is made of sandstone, resulting in coarse sand (called arzelle).
The climate is continental moderate, dry and hot during the summer and rainy enough the rest of the year. The mistral, which rushes throughout the Rhone Valley also participates to the preservation of vines and harvesting from moisture.
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