Rhône Valley Crus: Newly promoted appellations spotlighted

By Hamish Graham

Published: 14 November, 2025

At Soho’s Vinyl Factory, 17 of the Côtes du Rhône’s Cru level appellations were on hand to showcase their latest wines. Well-known regions – the likes of Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Condrieu – were in attendance, as were the three newest Cru status AOCs – Laudun, Cairanne and Rasteau.

Laudun was promoted to Cru AOC in 2024, the first region to gain the status in 8 years and the most recent to do so. The naming convention of Cru level estates allows them to label the bottle with their village and the estate name, but without the requirement of writing Côtes du Rhône – emphasising the regionality of the wines.

The right bank appellation spans 589ha of vineyard, with 73% of production dedicated to red and the remaining 27% to white. Although red wine still dominates production in Laudun, for the 2024 harvest only 12% of production in the overall Rhône Valley was dedicated to white, by contrast.

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As head of communication for the Laudun appellation, Léa Hugues, explained, promoting the newly ascendent region’s whites is a priority – all six wines on show at the Soho event being of the lighter hue. Additionally, the AOC’s slogan ‘Symphonie en Blanc Majeur’ emphasises this point further. The region’s whites, typical of the wider Valley, are usually a blend of 2, 3 or 5 of Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Roussane, Viognier and Bourboulenc.

The sunny, hot climes of the southern Rhône appellation sees many of Laudun’s whites sit at around 13-14% abv. Approximately 50% of produced volume comes from the Maison Sinnae wine cooperative. Spanning over 2350ha and representing over 140 cooperative winegrowers, the producer does not at present have UK representation. Sinnae’s Les Dolia 2023 was on show a typical Rhône white blend – the wine a youthful, aromatic expression.

Cairanne are the next most recently designated Cru AOC – gaining the status in 2016. Their ascension was unique in nature, however – both the region’s red and white top wines having the potential to be labelled as Cru. Production hectarage of whites needs to be at least 6% for the top AOC designation, with Domaine Rabasse Charavin’s Martin Lepoutre detailing that around 8 to 9% of AOC Cairanne’s production is dedicated to white wine.

One highlight of the Cairanne wines on show was Domaine Brusset’s Vielles Vignes 2023. Drawn from vines aged 60 to 70 years old, as Lepoutre detailed despite the low yield, the wine highlights the flavour concentration so typical of old vines.

Dynamic Rasteau

The changes afoot in 935ha Rasteau can act as a bellwether for the wider Valley. Shifting wine styles, the next generation of vintners and the need to diversify estates’ offer were topics of discussion.

The region’s well-known sweet Vin Doux Naturel have been sold under the Rasteau AOC since 1944, though it was not until the 2009 vintage (approved in 2010) that the region’s reds gained Cru status.

Sophie Steinloff of Rhonéa detailed that in recent years there has been a concerted effort in the region to shift red wines styles towards less extracted, earlier drinking expressions – utilising, as Steinloff puts it, “gentler vinification”. Concrete ageing is an increasingly used practice, as well as larger oak barrels when the latter are used.

Alongside Steinloff was Julien Larum of Domaine des Girasols. Working alongside his father – following 11 years working in Napa – Larum showcases the importance of ensuring the next generation of winemakers in the Rhône can thrive. Larum detailed that a number of estates in Rasteau have had to be sold due to the younger generations of winemaking families seeking to pursue a life outside of wine.

Larum is the founder and president of the organisation representing Rasteau’s young winemakers, with he and his peers focused an ensuring a strong future for the AOC. He explained that selling his estate’s wines is a very different proposition to the experiences of his father and grandfather, with an increasing emphasis on diversifying and marketing the Rasteau offer in new and intriguing ways.

He and his fellow young winemakers organised a trail fun run in the appellation, with propositions such as 4x4 tours, barbeques, events and parties all seeing greater prominence in Rasteau and the wider Côtes du Rhône. As Larum puts it, the liquid in bottle cannot be the only offer and “you have to sell something else” nowadays.

Another potential avenue for the Valley’s wineries could be working in tandem with cycling tourism. Rasteau lies only an hour’s cycle from the base of Mount Ventoux – the Tour de France’s most famous mountain climb (the peak more resembling the surface of the moon than the south of France).

The event showed that young winemakers can steer the future of the Côtes du Rhône, though encouragement and incentivisation are likely needed to ensure this can happen.

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