Rhône - History Flashcards
At the height of Greek trade, some 10 million liters of wine in amphorae were shipped through Massalia (modern day Marseilles) via the Rhône River to which final destination?
Into the heart of Gaul
When did the Romans arrive in the Southern Rhône and when did they spread viticulture to the Northern Rhône?
The Romans arrived in the Southern Rhône in 125 BCE, and viticulture spread to the Northern Rhône by the first century CE.
Who built the Northern Rhône’s picturesque, hallmark terraces?
Roman workers
Which Northern Rhône city was an important Roman provincial capital and exported its wines to Rome itself?
Vienne
As in Burgundy who was primarily responsible for reviving the culture of the vine in the ninth century?
The Catholic Church
In 1309, how did the Southern Rhône suddenly became the center of Christian Europe?
Pope Clement V moved his court from Rome to Avignon.
Which Pope began construction of the now-ruined summer papal palace, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and planted the surrounding vineyards?
Pope John XXII
(Pope Clement V’s successor)
The Roman Catholic popes presided in Avignon until 1378, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape remained property of the papacy until what year?
1791
How were the wines sourced from the papal vineyards referred to until the 19th century before they became known as Châteauneuf-du-Pape?
Vins d’Avignon
The “manly” wines of which appellation of the Northern Rhône were among the most famous in France in the 18th and 19th centuries, and many merchants of which region famously blended them with their own reds to strengthen the wines?
Hermitage
Merchants from Bordeaux
Which region was the first quality region in France to be struck by phylloxera when it first appeared in 1863?
The Southern Rhône was the first quality region in France to be struck by phylloxera when it first appeared in 1863.
What pushed the growers of Châteauneuf-du-Pape to prepared and imposed a set of rules for production which became the prototype for the Appellation Contrôlée system?
The need to combat the wine fraud that took hold in France during the decades of grafting and replanting following the phylloxera epidemic.
When did Châteauneuf-du-Pape became the first AOC (now AOP) in France?
1936
