{"id":1836,"date":"2021-05-28T15:58:29","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1836"},"modified":"2021-05-28T15:58:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:58:29","slug":"driving-tips-in-the-southern-rhone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1836","title":{"rendered":"Driving Tips in the Southern Rh\u00f4ne"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In some sectors of Wine Country, there is one main road that sort of ties the entire region together.\u00a0 There\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=654\">Route 29<\/a> in Napa Valley, the D2 in the M\u00e9doc or Main Road in Long Island\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=946\">North Fork<\/a>.\u00a0 But if you want to spend time driving around \u00a0the Southern Rh\u00f4ne to taste the wines, it\u2019s not so easy.\u00a0 For one thing, the sector is really large, around 140,000 acres in the C\u00f4tes-du-Rh\u00f4ne.\u00a0 For another, many of the villages are very far from even the relatively large routes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chateauneuf1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-1837 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chateauneuf1-300x180.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"633\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chateauneuf1-300x180.png 300w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chateauneuf1.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 633px) 100vw, 633px\" \/><\/a><em>Ch\u00e2teauneuf du Pape.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of La Mirande.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So if you do plan to drive around the Southern Rh\u00f4ne, here are a few tips to make your travels easier and your tasting more fun.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Choose a few nearby villages for a day\u2019s tasting<\/strong>. Ch\u00e2teauneuf du Pape and the area around it is the most famous in the region and it justifies a day (or two, or a lifetime) by itself.\u00a0 Beaumes de Venise, Gigondas and Vacqeyras are quite close to one another as are Rasteau and Cairannne.\u00a0 Further north, Vinsobres and Visan are near to one another.\u00a0 Try to minimize the driving so you can have more time for tasting and visiting the villages.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There are some spots where you don\u2019t have to drive very far between wineries.<\/strong> For example, at the intersection of the D69 and the D975 in Rasteau, you can visit Domaine du Trapedis, <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=880\">Domaine la Soumade<\/a>, the really excellent Cave de Rasteau <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1327\">cooperative<\/a>, Domaine des Nymphes (for dessert wines) and Domaine C\u00f4teaux des Travers all within a few kilometers of one another.\u00a0 That\u2019s really a day\u2019s tasting in one small place.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Get a good roadmap.<\/strong> You may have a car equipped with GPS or you may want to use your cell phone.\u00a0 But we have found that these systems calculate the shortest route, not the fastest or most sensible one.\u00a0 So you wind up driving through somebody\u2019s vineyard with no village in sight for miles.\u00a0 Michelin sells very good maps and there are others, all available at the local <em>tabac<\/em> or gas station.\u00a0 Buy one that\u2019s specific to the area you plan to visit.\u00a0 Maps that cover a broader area may save you a little money but they lack the specificity to keep you from getting lost.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/gigondas1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-1838 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/gigondas1-300x199.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"663\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/gigondas1-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/gigondas1.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 663px) 100vw, 663px\" \/><\/a><em>Gigondas. Photo courtesy of Our House in Provence.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Trust the signs.<\/strong> The roads are very well marked.\u00a0 Since many of the villages aren\u2019t on major roads or even large minor ones, your map might not be enough for the last mile.\u00a0 But if you see a sign indicating that Gigondas is this way, keep going until you see the next sign for the village.\u00a0 You\u2019ll get there (and you\u2019ll be glad you did).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make time for lunch.<\/strong> You may as well, because all the wineries close up from around noon to 2:00.\u00a0 So aim to be in a village just before lunchtime.\u00a0 That way you can scout around and find a restaurant or caf\u00e9 to your liking.\u00a0 The better ones fill up, so you might need a reservation.\u00a0 Even the more casual ones become full with locals, so make sure to get there around noon to make sure to get a table.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In some sectors of Wine Country, there is one main road that sort of ties the entire region together.\u00a0 There\u2019s Route 29 in Napa Valley, the D2 in the M\u00e9doc or Main Road in Long Island\u2019s North Fork.\u00a0 But if you want to spend time driving around \u00a0the Southern Rh\u00f4ne to taste the wines, it\u2019s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1836\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Driving Tips in the Southern Rh\u00f4ne<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1839,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions\/1839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}