Death of French Wine (as we have known it)

In the the 2005 edition of the Dive Bouteille a group of rambunctious, shouting, applauding and cheering vignerons sat and stood in a damp cave for a meeting. They took a break from tasting to hammer out the dangers they were seeing in the AOC system.

I can't remember who it was who stood up, perhaps it was Olivier Cousin from Anjou, but many voiced the same idea.  Too many people who worked well and naturally, who made wines that weren't flawed but that weren't textbook, were not being granted the right to put AOC whatever on their label. The system that used to protect real wines had reversed itself. It was a system that had started to eat its own.

With increasing frequency, wines that were naturally made, with no additions, coming from quality terroir, worked tenderly are denied appellation. In fact, looking over my wine shelves, these are mostly what I drink. 

Real wines were in danger.  Fake wines were awarded status.  As the years rolled on the situation got worse. Symbolic was when the  Loire Valley  hired consultant Sam Harrop (click that link, get the irony?) to help them turn their sauvignon blanc into something closer to New Zealand. You get the picture.

In the last six years this has gotten worse as new reforms in the law (and the ridiculousness of the EU wine laws) have condemned certain grape varieties in certain towns, such as menu pineau (hello Theirry Puzelat) . The result was defection and a proliferation of wines that boasted Vin de Table on their label rather than Chablis. 

There's a lovely interview Jules Dressner conducted  with Noella Morantin up on the LDM site.  Here's a snip that is to the point.

JD-You only bottle as Vin de France as opposed to the Touraine AOC. Can you tell us how you came to this choice?

NM- From the get-go I wanted to make Vin de France, but a lot of people advised me against it. They told me that it was important to defend and take pride in your appellation, and I reluctantly started making AOC wines. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that the majority of the AOC wine being produced in my region came from conventional chemical farming and oenological manipulation in the cellar. 

These people have appellation sauvignon because they've used an industrial yeast that makes the wine smell like cat piss. If it doesn't smell like cat piss, you don't get the appellation. That was my first big problem with the AOC system.

The final straw was last year when there was an issue with my Boudinerie 2009. It had 0.24 volatile acidity, and even though 0.9 is the level necessary for the wine to be deemed flawed, the board denied me the AOC for this cuvée because of V.A. I reanalyzed the wine myself and provided them with the results proving I was well within the limits allowed, and they told me that it didn't matter, that when they had tasted it they had deemed the V.A too high and I'd have to present it again in order to reevaluate it. So out of principle, because at this point I'd sold all my wine and there wasn't any left, I re-presented the wine and, low and behold, this time the wine was ok and they accorded me the AOC.

At that point I told myself I didn't need these people to tell me what to do. I'm perfectly capable of making the wines I want to make with

                                                                                        *

Others wanted to fight.  Jean-Pierre Amoreau of Chateau Le Puy in Bordeaux took the AOC to court, and won.

Another situation is Olivier Cousin,  being sued by InterLoire (local appellation leg) because he rebelliously put his region and  his grapes on his label,  even as a joke (Anjou pur Breton is the name of the caberent franc involved, Anjou his region, Breton is the old name of Cabernet Franc)...as if playing cat and mouse with the government. This was his patrimony. His right. But the establishment is not seeing it his way.

So, with a heavy heart, after years of thinking that the French system had more good than bad, I've come to accept that the French INAO continues on this path, it is finished. Back in 1935, it's original purpose  was to help consumers distinguish between true terroir wines and ordinary ones.  There were to be clearly defined rules on soil, grape varieties and methods. In recent years the Vin de Table category was viewed to be more true than appellation wines. 

But it isn't just amongst the scruffy rebels, the dissent is reaching even high flying names. Last week I was in Burgundy and stunned that almost every domaine I visited brought up the difficulty for real wines to achieve appellation status unless there is money and influence behind the petition. What to do about it? I discovered that even at the high flying Domaines Roulot, Bonneau de Martray and Ponsot, there was talk about revolt.

 I was in the middle of  Clos des Monts Luisants, the 1er cru in Morey St. Denis when Laurent Ponsot insisted,  "No, no, no! It is the place, not the grape!"

I agree.

 I never think  of pinot or cab or malbec. I never think grenache, nor syrah. I think in terms of Gigondas. I think in terms of Beaujolais or Loire Valley gamay. I think in terms of cot (which means Loire to me) and I think of Burgundy (insert appellation.)I think Cornas and St. Joseph. Place matters. Just try drinking Hervé Souhauts gamay called Souteronne (does not get appellation). The wine tastes like the Northern Rhone. It just does. 

Originally the AOC had told Ponsot he would have to pull out his aligoté by 2013, because such a lowly grape shouldn't be grown on 1er Cru territory. (more on aligoté in later posts)

Ponsot, who has money and history on his side,  won the reprieve and he will continue to label his wines as a 1er Cru Bourgogne instead of Bourgogne Aligoté. He went on to say, if  he has aligoté on Corton, he wants to use the Corton appellation. After all, it is the soil, not the grape. And aligoté has history older than chardonnay in the area. I had the feeling if he was forced to put Bourgogne Aligoté on a label, a grape often grown on the wrong side of the tracks (the other side of 74) he might have gone postal.

I had a great meeting with
 Jean-Charles le Bault de la Morinière at Bonneau du Martray, maker of extolled Corton and Corton-Chuck.  He asserted that if the madness of denying the right to put the name, such as C-C, on a label on good wine continues, he will defect.  To hell with the system.

Of course if you're a Ponsot or a B du M your name mostly is so famous you don't need to use the appellation. Others less famous will have a harder time. Sure you might get sales off of the grape name, such as chardonnay, but you very possibly will lose the business looking for a Corton or a Meursault.   

In Olivier Cousin's plea to use his place on his label it is a manner of honor, not a matter of law. He wants to put his name and his vintage and his place on his label, it is patrimony.

Soil and grape profiling-- the reverence of place and the exquisite matching of the grape to the soil-- has been France's gift to the wine drinking world. That was the essence of the Appellation system. So, why are they insistent on narrowing their interpretations on a narrow flavor profile? They are destroying themselves.

It might be time for another kind of French revolution. 

 

 

Comments

[Ohmansmatovin.wordpress.com]

I actually don't understand what the problem is. I agree that the system isn't perfect (don't know any system that is) but exactly what should be changed in the appellation laws?

[Alicefeiring]

They need to revert back to their original purpose, to protect region.

The new folk need to grasp that the same grape grown on different soils, with different farming, might taste very differently, but that is not a reason to deny appellation. Working well is the key, not if the sauvignon blanc tastes grassy or like cat pee or gooseberry.

Also,wines without sulfur might present very differently, and it is wrong to banish them from the AOC because their tastes are outside of the textbook description. That is, if the wines are solid, stable, and the work in the cellar and vineyard is honest.

[Ohmansmatovin.wordpress.com]

I might be stupid but that didn't make any sense to me. Can you give examples of wines that have not been accepted on those grounds?

[Alicefeiring]

Either because of taste or because a grape like menu pineau is no longer allowed in certain areas: wines by Olivier Cousin, T. Puzelat, Claire Naudin (her unsulfured wines) Domaine Deux Anes, Claude Courtois. For example, Thierry Puzelat told me that he is now resigned to making table wine instead of appellation wine because he will continue to work with now forbidden varieties as the INAO proceeds to limit grape varieties. It is like ripping out heirloom apple trees. No different. France isn't the only one, Italy is the same way, just the French system is the oldest and most venerable.

[Ohmansmatovin.wordpress.com]

You give examples of producers who choose to work outside the legislation. I asked for specific wines that has been denied appellation status.

[Alicefeiring]

Many are working outside of the appellation because they were denied and so they went their own way. To reiterate what I already stated, Amoreau was denied, he took the Appellation to court. Claire Naudin was denied for her aligoté and Haute Cotes de Beaune. In 2007, Jean-Paul Brun's l'Ancienne Denied the AOC Beaujolais. Also, please look at the section above where I cite Noella Morantin.
Domaine des Sablonnettes had a rosé that was rejected once for being "too dark" so they called it "Ceci n'est pas un rosé" Table Wine. Now they no longer request the AOC. They are supposed to be AOC Anjou like
Olivier. Binner in Alsace. also gets certain wines rejected.

[Ohmansmatovin.wordpress.com]

WInes has been denied appellation status for different reasons all through the history. The AOC-system has changed and adapted since the beginning. I think it's much to soon to write the obituary based on the loud opposition from a small group (in the country with largest wine production in the world) that wants to do things differently.

Rebels are needed, loved, adored and move boundaries. But they serve their purpose best outside the system.

BTW. I don't find the new EU regulation to be ridiculous. When it comes to effect I think it will bring some order into it all.

[Alicefeiring]

Unlike you, I am not in favor of old vines with long history being ripped out because they are not considered commercially viable, or because the EU wants to simplify. Also, I am not in favor of laws that allow both chaptalization and acidification. But mostly, I find that the new laws are in the interests of the bigger commercial firms and are geared towards an unpleasant standardization.

[Ohmansmatovin.wordpress.com]

Well. Anyone who reads this can see that I have not spoken in favor of ripping up old vines. That's bad deta technique Alice.
There are no laws that allows both acidification and chaptalization. In 2003 there was an exception from the law i Loire that allowed acidification but that didn't overrule the law that permitted addition of sugar. Get your facts straight.

[Alicefeiring]

Sir, I am accusing you of nothing. I am merely saying that I don't like where the changes are going, increasingly towards simplification on all levels. You said you're in favor of the changes, I did not. And, by the way both acid and sugar are allowed in Burgundy (and probably elsewhere) and have been since, I believe 2001. I've been through this one extensively.

http://www.alicefeiring.com/blog/2011/04/regarding-additions-in-burgundy.html?cid=6a0120a6be8504970b014e60ecfca4970c

[VinMasterWine]

This is the problem when regulations go beyond simple rules and become interpretations of regulators. Like you said, the rules should be simple you can grow this here and you can do that in the cellar (it would be nice if the rules required disclosure of cellar practices). No tasting panels. If consumers buy it, great. If not, make better wine.

[SiduriWines]

Alice,

Tragically, this type of thing has been going on for awhile. I first recall it in the case of Jean Thevenet as detailed in Wine Spectator:

http://www.bongran.com/epress_spectator.htm

While his reasons for exclusion don't fit into what you describe, the exclusion existed nonetheless, and should have been more widely protested at the time. IMO, typicite' is a slippery slope and can, in the hands of bureaucrats, can led to the exclusion of wines outside the box, wherever that box is defined at the time. That loss of individual expression is sad.

Adam Lee
Siduri Wines