Rail route of the month: vines on the line from Avignon to Lyon, France

29.04.2024 - 11:23 / theguardian.com

Trains and wine make natural partners, be it a glass of crisp white over a leisurely lunch in a restaurant car while cruising through the Alps or a rail itinerary that meanders through a region noted for its fine wines. Many of Europe’s most prized wine regions lend themselves naturally to exploration by rail.

Take the train from São Bento station in Porto to Pocinho, for example, for fine views of the estates that have underpinned the port trade. Other classic European wine regions where trains weave through vineyards include Tokay in Hungary, Germany’s Moselle valley, the Ebro valley in Spain (for fine Rioja) and Switzerland’s Lavaux region where one grand cru white, made from Chasselas grapes, even plays up the rail connection: the Massy family’s classy Dézaley is called Chemin de Fer.

It is a tempting rail-wine connection that brings me to Avignon on a damp early spring day, to explore the Rhône valley. Few travellers are around. Avignon Centre railway station looks handsome with its yellow and white walls. This is the jumping-off point for the regular slow trains to Lyon (a journey of two and a half hours). This regional rail route once carried grand express trains, but no longer. The TGVs dash north to Paris on a high-speed line that tracks well east of the Rhône valley. Only regional trains stick to the old valley route, along the way taking in a roll call of grand appellations that line either side of the Rhône as one follows the railway upstream from Avignon. The railway passes Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Hermitage, while later in the journey there are fine views across the river to Condrieu and Côte-Rôtie.

Slipping out of Avignon Centre on the blue-and-white train bound for Lyon, there are views to the left of the city’s ancient walls, then we cross the Canal Crillon. We have barely left Avignon’s suburban sprawl when we pause at a station called Sorgues-Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Not a vine in sight, but a few moments later, the distinctive low hill which is home to Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s classiest vineyards is visible away to the west, while on the other side of the railway the rough Provençal countryside stretches east to the Vacqueyras wine district and, in the distance, the hill country around Gigondas and Beaumes de Venise, the latter noted for its aromatic Muscat.

Our train loops slightly west to serve Orange, after which we have our first real encounter with the main channel of the River Rhône. It isn’t all pretty – we pass cement works, graveyards of abandoned cars and nuclear power plants.

Halfway through the journey, I stop for lunch in Valence where the elegant design of Valence Ville railway station recalls the architectural idiom of the Grand Trianon at Versailles. I know this route well,