The Rhône Valley is France’s second-largest wine region and arguably its most underrated. Stretching from the steep, terraced hillsides south of Lyon down to the sun-baked plains approaching Provence, it produces some of the country’s most powerful, complex, and food-friendly wines.
The region naturally divides into two distinct halves. The Northern Rhône is a narrow corridor of precipitous granite slopes where Syrah reigns supreme, producing deeply concentrated wines in appellations like Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, and Cornas. The Southern Rhône opens up into a broader, Mediterranean landscape where Grenache-based blends dominate — most famously in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but also in the excellent and more affordable wines of Gigondas, Vacqueyras, and Rasteau.
We’re particularly fond of the Rhône because it offers remarkable quality at prices that haven’t caught up with reputation. A top Crozes-Hermitage or Cairanne costs a fraction of a comparable Burgundy or Bordeaux, and the wines are immediately enjoyable — generous, aromatic, and built for the dinner table.
The landscape doesn’t hurt either. The Northern Rhône’s vertiginous slopes are genuinely dramatic, and the Southern Rhône sits in classic Provençal countryside — lavender fields, olive groves, and hilltop villages with views that go on forever. Add in the food culture of Lyon (France’s gastronomic capital) at the northern end and the markets of Avignon at the southern end, and you’ve got one of France’s most complete wine touring destinations.