The French like to name their wine producing areas, so, thinking goes it’s easy to understand the style of wine in a bottle, because wines made in a certain area should be similar (in grape, style, etc.) This was of course before the age of printed reviews and Internet posts on what to expect from certain bottles. Back then the wines of the southern Rhône developed a reputation for being powerful red wines—to the point that strong southern Rhône wines used to be mixed with Bordeaux wine when Bordeaux had a bad year. That practice is of course long gone, but the powerful red wines of the southern Rhône are still enjoyed across the world.

The southern Rhône is segmented into several unique areas based on local climate and soils, which have been granted their own appellation. The most famous is Châteauneuf-du-Pape—which deserves its own post—but there are several other AOC areas in the southern Rhône that produce excellent charismatic wines that have a tendency to be overlooked in favor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We’re going to look at four of them: Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Lirac and Tavel.

Gigondas isn’t really about delicacy. The wines are all red and are crafted to be powerful, tannic and in the best cases worthy of cellar aging. The region is located northeast of Châteauneuf along a little set of mountains called the Dentelles de Montmirail. Gigondas is mostly made from Grenache and only produces red wines. Look for bottles to be in the $15 to $25 range.

Vacqueyras is situated between Gigondas and Châteauneuf, but stylistically it tends to be much more like Gigondas. Vacqueyras was granted AOC status in 1990, but has produced wines for centuries. The output is almost all red wines, similar to Gigondas, very powerful, with lots of structure and less finesse. Vacqueyras is produced from Grenache, but uses more Syrah than Gigondas.

Lirac lies across the river Rhone from the famous Châteauneuf and can produce wines in a similar style. Lirac wines are made in a more blended style than Gigondas and Vacqueyras, which result in wine that is more subtle than the power of the Gigondas and Vacqueyras.

The grapes for red and rose are Grenache with Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault and for the whites are Clairette, Grenache Blanc and Bourboulenc.

Tavel is a very unique AOC in that permits only rosé wine to be made. The wine is made from Grenache and Cinsault, with some Syrah and Mourvèdre. Those are all red grapes, which are gently pressed and kept with the red skins for a brief period of time to dye the wine a light pink color. Tavel wines were a favorite of Kings of France and are still a favorite around the world today.