Over 800 kilometres long, the Rhône is one of the most important wine rivers in the world. Like all bodies of water, it has a positive effect on viticulture and creates the conditions for this by forming valley slopes, some of which are very steep. The river rises at the Furka Pass as a glacial stream in the Swiss Alps of Uri, flows through the canton of Valais and Lake Geneva in Switzerland under the name Rotten, crosses the French border, turns south from Lyon and flows into the Mediterranean south of Arles-sur-Rhône in the Bouches-du-Rhône department.
In the 6th century BC, the Greeks founded the Rhône. BC, the Greeks founded the city of Marseille (Massilia) at the mouth of the Rhône and brought the vine to the valley. The Celts (Gauls) also cultivated vines in what are now the Côte Rôtie and Hermitage appellations (Crozes-Hermitage). It is said that they taught the Romans the art of refinement. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (23-79) reports on a grape variety called Allobrogica, which was allegedly cultivated here by the Celtic tribe of Allobroges. At the beginning of the second century, the area became part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis.
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Markus J. Eser
Weinakademiker und Herausgeber „Der Weinkalender“