Walls: Exploring Côtes du Rhône Villages Saint-Andéol

What exactly is an Ardèche wine? It turns out it can be many things.

The Ardèche is a département (one of France’s 96 administrative regions) located in the Rhône that extends northwards to the top of St-Joseph and the more southerly villages of Condrieu. Cornas and St-Péray, too, are Ardèche wines.

So it might be wine from the granitic north. Or it might be wine that hails from the calcareous south, as the département encapsulates some of the southern Rhône too. Most of the vast IGP Ardèche is limestone mountains, the landscape frequently gouged by deep river gorges cut jaggedly like a knife through sourdough bread, with vineyards nestled in the valleys.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for 10 unmissable Saint-Andéol wines

Villages in this area are often remote, ancient, surrounded by woods. Local people are described as independent, rebellious, even. Their wines can be too; the Ardèche is home to some excellent natural winemakers such as Andrea Calek, Château de la Selve and Mas d’Intras.

Saint-Andéol is the only one of the 22 named villages of the Côtes du Rhône located in the Ardèche. The appellation (its full name Côtes du Rhône Villages Saint-Andéol) is made up of four villages at the southernmost tip of the département, where the Ardèche river meets the Rhône itself.

So which kind of Ardèche wine is Saint-Andéol? It’s something different again: one-part calcareous south to nine-parts Rhône pebbles, with a dash of revolutionary zeal.

If you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone. The appellation was only granted seven years ago and there are just 11 producers bottling their wines under this designation.

So is it even worth knowing about? Well, it’s home to two of the most exciting estates in the southern Rhône, and most domaines here make satisfying wines that offer great value. So… yes, it is.

The Ardèche Provençale

Gradually descending from the mountainous heart of the Ardèche, you can feel a change as you approach the villages that make up the Saint-Andéol appellation: Bourg-Saint-Andéol, Saint-Just, Saint-Marcel-d’Ardèche and Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche.

The woodland becomes less dense and more diverse, and the colour palette livens up – the blue-green trees and dirty-white rocks give way to ochre buildings, bone-coloured stones and lavender.

The terrain becomes a little flatter, it lies lower, and feels agreeably sunbaked. This is the Ardèche Provençale.

Vineyards here are mostly galets roulés, the same Rhône-dredged deposits that you can find in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Lirac, Tavel and beyond. Rather than lying in flat plains, here they form hills and banks that can reach up to 180m above sea level.

Galets roulés usually signify power and potency, and while these wines are always generous, they also have juice and fluidity – you wouldn’t confuse them with a hearty Châteauneuf. Its northerly location and relatively cool nights make for a fresher, spicier take on Grenache and Syrah.

Local excellence

There are two names that deserve particular attention: Domaine Saladin and Mas de Libian.

Domaine Saladin is owned by sisters Marie-Laurence and Elisabeth Saladin, the 21st generation to run the family farm established over 600 years ago, in 1422. They claim that no chemical products have ever been used on their soils, and they don’t use any additives in their wines apart from sulphites.

The reds here are particularly pure and limpid, often produced using semi-carbonic maceration. Whites are just as good; rich, ample and food-friendly.

Should Mas de Libian (who I’ve written about here) be included in this article? Perhaps not; it doesn’t bottle its wines under the Saint-Andéol appellation after all.

But owner Hélène Thibon could if she wanted to, and has done so in the past. Like Saladin, she is based in Saint-Marcel-d’Ardèche. She refuses the appellation due to ideological differences with the local authorities, and bottles her production under the generic Côtes du Rhône appellation instead. The defiant Ardèche spirit is alive and well.

Whatever the appellation on the label, Mas de Libian’s wines exemplify the freshness and purity of this corner of the Ardèche.

These two estates might not belong to a famous cru, but both belong in the top tier of southern Rhône estates. And there are several other estates making excellent wine here.

The Ardèche is huge and diverse, but this little corner certainly deserves an appellation all of its own.

10 Saint-Andéol wines to try:

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