Côtes du Rhône Cru AOC Vinsobres

Climate: Mediterrannean influenced by the Mistral wind and the Pontias

Soils: Limestone / Clay / Rocky 

Website appellation: https://vinsobres.fr/

Production surface area in 2023:  554 HA

Total production in 2023: 18 460 HL

Average annual yeld: 33 HL/HA

Export: 20%

Recognition in AOC by the I.N.A.O.: 2006

Commune: Vinsobres

• Mourvèdre, 
• Syrah

• Bourboulenc, 
• Brun argenté (localement dénommé Camarèse ou Vaccarèse), 
• Carignan, 
• Cinsault, 
• Clairette, 
• Clairette rose, 
• Counoise, 
• Grenache blanc, 
• Grenache gris, 
• Marsanne, 
• Muscardin, 
• Piquepoul noir, 
• Roussanne, 
• Terret noir, 
• Ugni blanc,
• Viognier

Specifications for the appellation

Having been occupied by the Romans, Vinsobres then went on to become the possession of the barons of Montauban, and subsequently owned by the Dauphins and Princes of Orange and Urre.
The name Vinsobres comes from Vinzobrio, the oldest recorded version of the village name, dating back to 1137; this in turn is thought to derive from the pre-Celtic Vintio, meaning height, and the Celtic suffix briga (mountain).
In 1633, Joseph Marie de Suarès, Bishop of Vaison-La-Romaine, coined the adage still used by the terroir’s winegrowers today: “Vinsobres, or sober wine - drink it soberly.” Vinsobres red wine was a Côtes-du-Rhône Villages AOC until 2006, when it was promoted to become the first standalone Côtes du Rhône Cru in Drôme Provençale.

A very particular microclimate protects the village and its vines planted in amphitheatre formation.
Summers are hot and dry, with the local Mistral and Pontias winds bringing cooler air at night.

The north-east/south-west facing terroir of the Vinsobres hillsides rises to over 500 metres, and is characterised by a wide variety of soil types. Their character and potential gives wines with superb complexity. The village of Vinsobres is divided up by altitude, ranging from 184 metres at its lowest to a peak of 509 metres. Average altitude is 325 metres.
The AOC terroir lies between the Miocene sedimentary basin of Valréas and that of the Aygues river, the Mediterranean mountain stream that has carried along detrital material torn from the Alpine slopes for millions of years.
There are four types of soil here. Between 10 and 50 metres above the bed of the Aygues river we find a terroir of moderately steep slopes and ledges. From 230-250 metres, the high slopes overlooking the alluvial sections are made up of material dating from the Mid and Upper Miocene.
These are marls or sandy marls, marine and continental, and covered by conglomerates from the terminal Miocene Age, very rich in coarse particles. On the peaks we find very high, very rocky plateaus. These materials were torn open, then filled during the Pliocene with marl containing varying levels of conglomerates to the north east of the village.

Vinsobres enjoys an unusual but very favourable geographic location, making it a southern Cru with distinctly northern characteristics. The vineyards grow at altitudes of 200 – 450 metres, in terraces, with the Prealps on one side and Mont Ventoux on the other.

Grenache, the Côtes du Rhône’s iconic varietal, accounts for 70% of all vine plantings across this commune. Syrah, which thrives in the slightly cooler parts of the vineyard, accounts for a little less than 20%. The wines of Vinsobres are balanced, with elegant, silky tannins heralding excellent ageing potential.
These are rounded, full-bodied wines with good length on the palate, generous with lots of volume and flavours of fresh and cooked fruit. Notes of cherry and blackcurrant mellow into flavours of blackcurrant jam and morello cherries, spices, pepper and aromatic herbs. Over 40% of the vineyards are farmed organically, and the remainder largely practice sustainable viticulture. In Vinsobres, ideas and ambitions come thick and fast as a new generation of wine growers gets ready to take over.