The appellation was recognised by decree on 19 November 1937, after Baron Le Roy of Châteauneuf-du-Pape had founded a growers' union for the whole Côtes du Rhône in 1929. It spans 172 communes in six departments. In 2024 some 29,150 hectares were declared under its name, nearly 25,000 of them for red. Above it sit the Côtes du Rhône Villages, with or without a village name, and the crus, such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Côte-Rôtie.

For reds and rosés the rules name three main grapes, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, which must make up at least 70 percent of a grower's vines. South of the latitude of Montélimar, Grenache must reach at least 30 percent; in the north, where the crus grow Syrah, that minimum does not apply. Syrah and Mourvèdre together must reach at least 20 percent. Whites draw mainly on Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier. Most of the wine comes from the south, between Avignon and Donzère. Soils range from river terraces to marl and soft limestone, and to sand and sandstone left by erosion.

On a label, the appellation tells the buyer less than the grower does. The Reynaud family's Château de Fonsalette, near Lagarde-Paréol, lies inside the Massif d'Uchaux village area yet labels its wines simply Côtes du Rhône. Syrah gives its red a darker colour and firmer tannins, and the wine can age for thirty years and more. Domaine Gramenon, at Montbrison-sur-Lez, bottles much of its range under the same name, from limestone soils at altitude.

The wines above are the Côtes du Rhône wines in our cellar. See also the Rhône Valley as a whole.