Comtés Rhodaniens is a regional PGI title that covers the red, white and rosé wines of a large area along the Rhône River in Southeastern France. The PGI catchment area includes the wine regions of Savoie and the Northern Rhône, as well as Part of Beaujolais. The PGI is most often used for wines produced in Vineyards outside the boundaries of the many AOC-level appellations: from Vin de Savoie to Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage. The territory of the Rhone Counties covers parts of nine separate departments on the way to the Rhône.
Beginning on the southern shores of Lake Geneva, the boundaries of the PGI extend south beyond Lyon to the prestigious wine regions of the northern Rhône Valley. The permitted vineyard area also includes the thin strip of farmland between the Rhône and Loire rivers in the Loire department (although the famous vineyards of the Loire Valley are hundreds of kilometres to the north). As this is the Comtés Rhodaniens, it is not surprising that the Terroir here is very varied. The continental peaks of the Alps in the northern part of the region give way to the mountains of the lower Massif Central in the south, which have a warmer and drier MediterraneanClimate, due to their proximity to the coast.
The Altesse white grape variety is French in origin, but its ancestors were brought from Cyprus. It then developed in the vineyards of the southeast of the country. The Montagnieu fusette or arbane, as it is also called, buds early in the year. A cottony veil covers the first buds. The involuted blade and the U-shaped petiolar sinus distinguish the adult, three-lobed leaves. During, sometimes for late vengeance, the clusters of medium or small size are winged, compact and cylindrical.the fruits reveal a melting pulp under a film of variable color. The pink-tan colour replaces the early reddish yellow when the berries ripen. If they persist, the berries take on a lilac hue. The vinification promises sparkling, aromatic and elegant sweet whites, or dry whites. Altesse is a grape variety to be carefully maintained against acariosis and erinosis.
white wines from the region of Comtés Rhodaniens go well with generally quite well with dishes of pork, shellfish or poultry such as recipes of rabbit stew the old fashioned way, samoussa 3 reunionese cheeses or spanish omelette.
On the nose in the region of Comtés Rhodaniens often reveals types of flavors of tree fruit, citrus fruit or earth and sometimes also flavors of cream, grapefruit or oaky. In the mouth in the region of Comtés Rhodaniens is a .
