Côtes du Vivarais AOC

Côtes du Vivarais (French pronunciation: [kot dy vivaʁɛ]) is a wine-growing AOC in the northwestern extreme of the southern Rhône wine region of France.

The region is bisected by the deep Gorges of the Ardèche and is shares the same latitudes as the Coteaux de Tricastin AOC on the left bank of the Rhône.

In the region extending from the Rhône valley to the Cévennes and the Ardèche mountains - both foothills of the Massif Central - vines were cultivated by the Helvians, an ancient Gallic tribe.

Pliny the Elder reported about a vine in Helvie “that flowers in a day, which protects it from accidents”; the region would wait however, until the Middle Ages before the production was well established and the wine became well known.

The vineyards are at an altitude of 250 metres on either side of the gorge and are located in the Ardèche communes of Bidon, Gras, Labastide-de-Virac, Lagorce, Larnas, Orgnac-l'Aven, Saint-Montan, Saint-Remèze, and Vinezac, and in the Gard communes of Barjac, Le Garn, Issirac, Montclus, and Saint-Privat-de-Champclos.