Finds of amphorae show that the inhabitants of the Rhône valley drank wine from Baetica, the eastern province of Roman-occupied spain, in the 1st century bc. In the 1st century ad, the Romanized élite of the Rhône valley drank falernian. From the 1st century bc onwards, wine was carried up the Rhône: Chalon-sur-Saône was a river port for the Gauls (see Côte chalonnaise). In his Geography, completed in ad 7, Strabo emphasized the importance of good river connections for trade in Gaul. From the Mediterranean one can get to the Atlantic ocean and the Channel by river (Geography 4. 1. 2).
