The Vineyards of Southern Ardèche: Unique sites and historic terroirs

The earliest evidence of winegrowing in this area comes from excavations in Alba, a major Roman city which played an important role in the establishment of viticulture here. In fact winemaking was the city’s main business activity at the time, as borne out by numerous traces of wine cellars and wine presses found in almost all the villas around Alba, the remains of wine amphora workshops in Saint-Marcel d’Ardèche and Alba, and evidence of cooperages in Rochemaure.

Vines thrived here back then, and the beneficial environment explains their continued widespread presence in the area today.   

In southern Ardèche, nature has made a splendid job of fashioning spectacular landscapes over thousands of years, marked by limestone and shaped by water, like the magnificent gorges or the terraces overlooking the Rhône. 

There are vineyards everywhere, offering an enviable diversity of terroir.

The Côtes du Vivarais vineyards grow in the limestone soils of the Plateau des Gras, an area bisected by the stunning Gorges de l’Ardèche. 

Vines are planted high up on rolling hillsides and interspersed with orchards and olive groves, while the ground beneath hides a network of caves and grottos sculpted by underground watercourses over thousands of years. 

These include the Aven d’Orgnac, one of the largest caves in the world; in fact there are a good few thousand bottles of Côtes du Vivarais AOC wine maturing there right at this moment

The Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône Villages vineyards are bordered by two rivers: the Rhône to the east and the Ardèche to the south. The vines grow on hillsides and terraces, in soils brimming with stones from the river. 

The Côtes du Rhône Villages Saint-Andéol AOC is famous for its red soils, which take their colour from the local iron-rich clay and are topped with red and purple-tinged pebbles, giving the landscape a unique character. This unique terroir was awarded Côtes du Rhône Villages with geographical name status in 2017.