About ONCE UPON A VINE
ONCE UPON A VINE is a wine export management group based near Avignon, the capital of the Cotes du Rhone.
Supported by talented winegrowers to promoting the fruits of their inspiration and the wine tasting culture, we are dedicated to providing the international wine trade business with the highest personalized quality service. Most of our selection comes from the Rhône Valley and the Mediterranean region.
We only select wines based on their quality and their character. Our portfolio evolves as we meet and appreciate new talented winemakers and wish to share their creations with international wine lovers.
Constantly listening to our trade partners, we are committed to sourcing and promoting renowned crus and unheralded fine wines at the best conditions.
Once Upon a Vine is not only the combination of the savoir-faire of talented winemakers we represent and our experience in the international trade: it's a also sharing our passions and promoting an epicurean life style without borders!
About LE CLUB
LE CLUB members are artisan winemakers driven by the same passion for creating great wines.
They are modern alchemists who have inherited century old savoir-faire. These men and women are committed to creating wines with their own character from sustainable agriculture, representative from their unique terroir.
By acting as an outsourced export division for Le Club, we enable its members to take advantage of our experience and knowledge in the field of export management allowing them to focus on what they do best: creating wines of excellence.
Rhone Valley Vineyards
The Rhone Valley has the longest history of wine production. It has been famous since the 1st century and was sold in the Antique Rome. Nowadays, wines from the Rhone Valley are renowned and some of them overpass prestigious names from Bordeaux.
Diversity of soils
The diversity of climates, soils and grape varieties make Côtes du Rhône wines so characteristic. But it is the ancestral savoir-faire, the talent and the will of winegrowers that have forged the Appellation, giving the wines their real personality. Situated in the Rhône river valley in Southern France. The Rhône wine region produces numerous wines under various Appellation d'Origine Protégée (AOP) designations.
Richness of grape varieties
The vineyard consists of varieties that come from three different vine-growing regions. Cinsault, Clairette and Bourboulenc were first developed in the Mediterranean areas of France. Carignan, Mourvèdre and Grenache were brought from Spain around two centuries ago. As for the Syrah, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier, they would come from the wild grapes of the neighboring Dauphiné hills.
Classification
Rhône does not have an official classification using "Grand cru" or similar terms, in difference to Bordeaux or Burgundy. There is however a difference between the Rhône AOPs as to the geographical delineation and naming practices of the various AOPs, which provide a classification into four categories:
- Cotes du Rhone only displays the region, and may be used in the entire wine region, for 171 communes. For some communes, this is the only allowed AOP. It is therefore the most "general" classification for Rhône AOP wine.
- Cotes du Rhone Villages is an AOP allowed for 95 communes, with a higher minimum requirement for grape maturity than basic Côtes-du-Rhône. In general, the appellation does not allow the village name to be displayed.
- Cotes du Rhone Villages together with village name is allowed for 21 communes. It is therefore a higher classification.
- Cru are the 17 named appellations which display only the name of the cru, and not Côtes-du-Rhône. These include the most famous Rhône wines, such as Hermitage, Cote Rotie and Chateuneuf du Pape. There is no official classification differentiating between different crus, but the market prices some AOPs much higher than others. Sometimes, individual vineyard names (such as La Landonne within the Côte-Rôtie appellation) are displayed on the labels. Most producers will only do this for top wines, but vineyard-labelled wines enjoy no different official status from other cru wines.
Key figures*
- 69 574 hectares and 5300 estates in 2017
- Including 6 000 hectares of organic A.O.P wines : 10% of the total vineyard surface area
- 2nd largest French A.O.P wine region in terms of surface area and production
- 2 503 055 hectoliters A.O.C Rhone produced in 2017
- 371 million bottles sold in 2017
- 193 countries in the world imported Rhône Valley wines in 2017