The northern Rhône produces a fraction of the volume of the southern Rhône, yet here are produced the lion's share of the Rhône's finest wines in the guise of Hermitage and Côte Rôtie. The two regions are, in fact, utterly different from one another climatically, in the grape varieties from which the wines are made and in the style of the wines produced. Here Syrah is king for red wines, Marsanne and Rousanne for the whites. The valley here is narrow, the vineyard often precipitous and the climate continental i.e. hot summers and cold winters.
