"In a nutshell: Dry, sometimes beefy red wines designed for ageing...
The great majority of wine made here is made from the Syrah grape, and the region's most famous wines are the deep-flavoured, long-lived reds Hermitage and the theoretically more fragrant and delicate Côte Rôtie...
Côte Rôtie is stereotypically distinguished from Hermitage by its perfume, which is in some cases due to the inclusion of a small proportion of white Viognier grapes (the same as those grown in the neighbouring appellation of Condrieu), but in practice most Côte Rôtie is 100 per cent Syrah...
The amount of Viognier grown in the northern Rhône is relatively tiny, and the peachy, full-bodied Condrieu it produces...
Hermitage is produced 50 km (30 miles) downriver on a bald suntrap of a hill on the left bank above the narrow town of Tain, or rather Tain l'Hermitage as it has become known thanks to the fame of Hermitage's densely strapping wines... White Hermitage is also made, from Marsanne and Roussanne grapes. It is unusually full-bodied and can be difficult to appreciate until its bouquet has developed after many years in bottle. Sweet vin de paille, made from dried grapes, is a speciality...
Crozes-Hermitage [is] the area's much, much bigger, less demanding red and white wine appellation on the flatter land around the hill of Hermitage... While Crozes-Hermitage regularly represents more than half of all the wine produced in the northern Rhône, St-Joseph (another red and white appellation made from Syrah and Marsanne/Roussanne respectively) can often represent almost one bottle in four... Cornas is still an underappreciated appellation producing very worthy and eventually exciting Syrah reds. They do demand ageing though, which is presumably what makes them less attractive to modern wine drinkers... The curiosity of the northern Rhône is St-Péray, both still and sparkling white made from Marsanne and Roussanne grapes of increasing quality." - Jancis Robinson
