The vine first appeared in the Ardèche region more than 2000 years ago, well before the Roman conquest of Gaul. In his natural history, Pliny the Old writes about a vine in Helvie “that flowers in a day, which protects it from accidents”. But it was not until the Middle Ages that vineyards were developed and Vivarais wines began to achieve a certain notoriety.   Later, in the 17th Century, Olivier de Serres, the most famous agriculturalist, praised the wines of Ardèche as “so precious and delicate that there is no need to go and seek elsewhere!” At the beginning of the 20th Century, the vineyard, now well established, reached over 25,000 hectares and the wine makers formed an association. That marked the appearance of the cooperative cellars where today the vinification of 90% of the harvested grapes still takes place. The time is right for a restructuring of the vineyards. The hybrid seedlings are torn out and, depending on the soil, the noble grape varieties are being planted: Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet-Sauvignon or Merlot.   But on the land of Ardèche, being dry and stony, the vine growers had to work hard to succeed. Today, the results can be seen. Nearly 70% of the vineyard  vineyard has been restructured (one of the highest proportions in France) and the wines of the Ardèche region have now acquired a certain reputation.

1960 : The Revival Lets think back to 40 years ago. At the beginning of the 1960s, the vineyard of southern Ardèche had only one appellation, that of Côtes-du-Rhône from the township of Bourg-Saint-Andéol, classed so by the decree of 19th November 1937, which determined the area of the appellation. However, by 1954 (50hl) and 1961 (290hl) some declarations of simple appellations concerned Côtes-du-Vivarais, in particular the cellar of Orgnac l’Aven, whose classification was to come in 1962. But essentially, the wine produced in southern Ardèche was 99.5% made up by ordinary wines. These wines were sold primarily to brokers, the wines of southern Ardèche developed a reputation for being blended. Couderc 13, for example, proved to be an improving grape variety for the wines of South and of Algeria. The wines therefore found an easy outlet for trade, even if the prices did remain affordable. The work on the vine, though it remained challenging, was greatly helped by the large quantity of hybrid vines which were resistant to disease (thus few treatments necessary) and to frost. Despite this easy flow of products (all of the wine was sold in bulk and kept for local consumption), the wine makers were envisioning the future.. A handful of men will realise the risks in using a vineyard for a large production of average quality wine. At first as outsiders, they initially called for the making of better quality wines, meaning a complete change in their work methods and especially in their attitudes. The gamble on quality was underway, without them one could state that Ardèche viticulture would have suffered a terrible and lasting crisis. Two different ways emerged (they will never be in competition, but rather they compliment each other), both supported by the agricultural authorities - Chambre d’Agriculture, departmental services (now the DDAF,...): - the first was that led by the winemakers of Saint-Remèze, Saint-Montan and Orgnac l’Aven which was to engage in a policy of quality that would mean in 1962 the birth of the appellation VDQS Côtes-du-Vivarais,  - - the second was that led by three wine makers: Louis Delichères of Grospierres, Roger Champetier of Ruoms and Raymond Manent of Vinezac. The aim was the same: strive towards quality. This common objective led to other perspectives than those derived from the mastering of vine growing (from the grapes to marketing) by the wine makers themselves. They took an ambitious gamble. Let’s not forget that at that time wine sales were the job of the brokers and they still had it all to do. But these vine growers were pioneers in the course of history : - the vine growers of Côtes-du-Vivarais were to find their first commercial markets within a “emerging local industry: tourism”. - the others were to quickly find themselves benefitting from a policy introduced in 1973 as part of the Plan for Renovation of the southern vineyard (called the “Plan Chirac”) followed later on by the EEC funds. These measures found all their uses in the Vin de Pays appelation, created roughly in 1964, then ever more precisely defined by successive decrees (1968, 1970, 1979). In both cases, in aiming for quality without resorting to hybrids, they had to take a crucial step : the restructuring of the vineyard will be exemplary.

2000 - A vineyard of the highest quality   And so, 40 years after the first attempts to plant quality grape varieties, the vineyard of southern Ardèche currently represents a level of quality which could be said to be remarkable. More than 70% is restructured, which is to say nearly 7,000 hectares, making it the highest rate in France (the average rate of annual renewal of vineyards stands at 1% in France, it is 3% in Ardèche). The numerical facts which are to follow reflect the quality of this vine management. These facts were established after the statistics of the collective UVICA cooperative (which comprises 80% of wine production in southern Ardèche).