Someone once wrote that Cotes du Rhone is the backbone of the Rhone region, but not its pennant.

"It's not really related to the Rhone region, but to the meatpacking region," he said.

The southern Rhone region begins around Valence, but the vineyards really don't begin for another 50 miles.

THE northern Rhone region, the source of Crozes-Hermitage and other terrific syrah wines, is a gateway to the South of France.

While the wines that are lumped together in the Rhone region are bound by the Rhone River, northern and southern Rhones are completely different characters.

Authorities in the Rhone region, which covers Lyon and nearby south-eastern towns, lifted a curfew on minors after just eight cars were destroyed overnight.

Delphine Gaud, a 28-year-old newcomer, is one of the few French choreographers from the Rhone region invited to create premieres for the biennial.

The grape most likely originated in the Northern Rhone region where it is widely planted today.

Once rare and considered difficult to grow, it was known principally as the grape of Condrieu, a town in the northern Rhone region.

In the Rhone region, the grapes normally are not affected by the fungus Botrytis cinerea though botrytized Viognier is not unheard of.