Coteaux de Die

France · AOC · Rhône Valley

Styles

Natural factors

Area covering 31 communes on the slopes overlooking the Drôme valley, at the boundary between the southern pre-Alpine chains and the Vercors massif.
The 'terres noires' of the Diois: marls derived from fossiliferous sediments deposited on the seabed during the Mesozoic era.
Heterogeneous soils supplemented by fluvial terraces, alluvial fans, and Quaternary calcareous scree; clay-chalk soils, gneiss, and granitic soils are also present.
A Mediterranean climate tempered by mountain relief; the col de Rousset (1,367 m) marks the climatic boundary between the northern and southern Alps.

Human factors

As early as the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder described a sparkling wine (aigleucos) whose fermentation was halted by plunging dolia into cold water — a direct forerunner of the méthode ancestrale. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)
Following the phylloxera crisis, growers abandoned indigenous red varieties (Funate, Paugayen) as well as foreign introductions, returning exclusively to clairette B and muscat à petits grains B.

Product characteristics

Production is reserved for years in which the climate allows the advanced ripeness required, and is distinct from sparkling wines.

Terroir / wine link

Clairette, grown at the climatic limit of ripeness in the Diois, contributes acidity and aromatic finesse to the sparkling wines.

Facts drawn from the cahier's terroir-link section (Lien au terroir) by automatic interpretation — see the source.