One
of the largest AOC wine regions in the South of France, Côtes
du
Rhône (C.D.R.)
is an area of 200km from north-south and 100km from east-west along
the Rhône river. Since 125B.C. Cotes du Rhone has been cultivating
grapes and making the wine. The total vineyard area of AOC C.D.R. is
around 60,000 hectares (ha) and produces 2,200,000 hectolitres of
wines annually (source
inter-rhone 2009).
More than
80% of the production is red wine. The main grape varieties and the
styles of wines are different between Rhone
Septentrionale (north) and
Rhone
Meridionales (south).
Maison
Plantevin
is located in one of the most beautiful small villages in France
called Séguret in the Southern Rhone. The history of grape
cultivation and vinification in this village has been recorded since
13th
century.
The
area has a typical Mediterranean climate characterised by the local
wind, “Mistral”. Thanks to
this strong
dry wind, the grapes of this area benefit from long hours of sunshine
all around the year, which give
higher sugar levels and great maturity in the grapes and the large
diurnal temperature difference maintains balanced acidity in the
grapes.