Many people are confused by the classifications of the wines of the southern Rhône.  Bear in mind that all AOC wines from the south (and the north for that matter) are AOC Côtes du Rhône wines.  The regions of the north and south that are AOC Côtes du Rhône are designated on the map (see link below) by the light pink color. There are different sub-categories assigned based on refinements to this classification system made over the past 80 years:

The first level of sub-classification is the AOC Côtes de Rhône Villages.  This is a general sub-classification, reflecting more stringent requirements than AOC Côtes du Rhône, for yields, soil composition, aging.  Côtes du Rhône Villages wines may originate from any of 95 communes located in the departments of Drome, Vaucluse, Gard or Ardèche.

 
The next step in the evolution of the pedigree is where 16 specific villages within the Côtes du Rhône, defined by very precise geographic limits in each case, are entitled to display the name of the village on the label on the bottle.  These villages include (in order of my preference) Cairanne, Rasteau, Laudun, etc.  On the map these villages are designated by the red circles.

The final and most esteemed level in the Côtes du Rhône family are the crus.  There are a total of 13 crus, 8 of which are situated in the northern Rhône (Côte Rotie, Chateau Grillet, Hermitage, etc.) and 5 of which come from the south:  Vacqueyras, Gigondas, Tavel, Lirac and Chateauneuf du Pape.  The communities from which the crus originate are represented by the red squares on the map.

Our tours include visits to vineyards that represent the crus as well as all other categories of AOC Côtes du Rhône wines.  We are delighted that we are able to introduce to our guests producers of some of the most famous crus as well as owners of small vineyards whose pride is in making distinctive wines of great character.