Rhône Valley wines

Rhône Valley wines run from Vienne to Avignon, syrah crus in the north, grenache blends in the south, with the Ventoux, the Luberon and the Costières. At the Christmas markets of the Drôme, the Vaucluse, the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and the Gard, the winegrower runs the chalet next to the nougat and the truffles, and the bottle is bought to take away.

Ventoux, Luberon, Costières: southern Rhône wines at the market

In Montélimar, the chalet offers the wines of Grignan-les-Adhémar and Côtes-du-Rhône, next to the nougat. In Carpentras, it is the wines of the Ventoux and Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, a vin doux naturel, a fortified sweet wine, with the berlingots and the truffles. Cavaillon and Manosque sell the wines of the Luberon, with the thirteen desserts and nougat. In Nîmes, the wines of the Costières go with brandade and croquants.

All these markets are local gatherings: town markets where the producer sells the bottle, with no big destination market among them.

Which Rhône Valley wines to try at a Christmas market

The valley reads in two parts. In the north, four grape varieties are enough: syrah for the reds, viognier, marsanne and roussanne for the whites. In the south, the wines are mostly blends, with grenache noir in the lead, then mourvèdre, syrah, cinsault and carignan. The sub-regional appellations of this southern part are the ones you will see on the labels at the chalets:

• Ventoux and Luberon,
• Costières de Nîmes,
• Grignan-les-Adhémar,
• and Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, the vin doux naturel on the list.

Côtes-du-Rhône also serves as the base for mulled wine in the region, but the winegrower’s chalet sells wine to drink as it is, by the bottle.