The new brand: France
Tuesday 11 August
Vin de Pays will no longer exist as I explained in my last blog, and nor will Vin de Table.
The classification will be no sad loss. Its wines have been poo-poohed by producers and consumers in the past. They have an image of low quality, mass-produced wine (although some fabulous VdT wines from Les Caves de Pyrene prove it ain’t necessarily so).
Vin de Table will now become Vin de France (or equivalent depending on where you make your wine) and for the first time ever the label will be able to state the vintage and grape variety on the label.
This move is a massive boost for major volume producers in the Languedoc and the rest of Europe. Big companies will now be able to make their wines relatively free of constraints and produce commercial wines under a new classification that is simple to understand for the international market. With grape varieties almost becoming brands in their own right, the ability to write Merlot or Chardonnay will also help Europe compete with the New World on foreign markets.
While this is opportunity that will benefit the big operations – think Les Grands Chais de France, Gerard Bertrand etc – smaller producers are also eyeing up the prospect of declassifying from their current Vin de Pays status to Vin de France. Why? Well, what’s the point in becoming an IGP, and having to jump through bureaucratic hoops if you can now put the grape variety and vintage on the label?
Marc Parce, winemaker at La Rectorie, a relatively small producer in Banyuls is attracted by the prospect of Vin de France: “Why would we mess around with the rules under IGP when you can make wines with the grape variety on with Vin de France? I won’t be able to resist using it,” he said.
However fellow member of Terroiristes du Midi group, Pierre Colbert of Chateau Flaugergues doesn’t share Parce’s view. “If you are a small producer you are not going to use this wide-ranging Vin de France classification. I think people think that this change is a good thing for the big negociants for them to do their blends. Smaller producers will use a more specific, smaller designation.”
Will consumers respect the Vin de France designation? They probably don’t care. Let’s face it the AOC system is no guarantee of quality.
A new reality for the Languedoc
Saturday 8 August
I’m in the Languedoc trying to understand what the European Union’s wine reform means for producers here. And I’ve opened a can of worms.
It is incredibly complex – even the producers are confused - many are burying their heads in the sand. I am meeting up with various members of Les Terroiristes du Midi who are pretty savvy but there’s still conflicting messages.
The main issue is that Vin de Pays will no longer exist by the end of 2011. It will be replaced with IGPs (Indication Geographique Protegee). In the biggest Vin de Pays producing region in France this is an issue that I’m investigating for Wine Business International.
So, what are the major changes we are likely to see in the Languedoc as a result of the reform?
It appears many Vin de Pays will disappear, swallowed up by larger IGPs. Producers and syndicat presidents estimate that the 50 or so Vin de Pays areas in the Languedoc will merge into fewer than 10 IGPs. It’s great news for us all that the system will be simpler; but it’s inevitably going to upset producers in those smaller areas who have a sentimental attachment to their wine-growing areas.
Expect to see labels saying IGP Pays d’Oc instead of Vin de Pays d’Oc in the future. Some may even make the change their labels as soon as the 2009 vintage
There’s a three-year transition period for all this to take effect so the consequences of this reform won’t be felt fully until 2012. Until then, there will be a lot of confusion and no doubt plenty of upheaval.
Vin de Pays wines will now be governed by the INAO, which also has responsibility for AOCs/AOPs, bringing the two under the same ruling body for the first time. ANIVIT, the former Vin de Pays governing body will now be responsible for Vin de Table wines only, now known as Vin de France.
Phew that’s enough for now.
In my next blog, I’ll update you on the Vin de Table changes: what that means for France’s competitiveness on the world market and why Vin de Pays producer may not bother with IGP and declassify their wines to the lowest rung of the ladder.
Good news at last!
Thursday 6 August
Good news doesn’t make the headlines; companies going under, buy outs and job cuts do - and there’s been plenty of that to write about in the past six months: Constellation and Diageo (among others) slashing the workforce; Foster’s selling off parts of its estate; Ehrmann’s and Playford Ros swallowed up by bigger outfits…I could go on but I won’t because there has been some good news reported in most of the major wine titles this week: The Sampler in Islington is opening two new branches.
Jamie Hutchinson and Dawn Mannis opened the store in 2006 and it has gone from strength to strength. Now, three investors have come on board, raising a cool £1 million to open two new stores in Kensington and Notting Hill.
The Sampler is not your average wine merchant. It has become legendary in wine circles for having 80 wines to taste on a charge card system. Buy some credit and away you go. The wines change daily and the last time I looked, they were sampling 1982 Penfolds Grange, 1942 Marqués de Murrietta Castillo Ygay and 1998 Ch. Latour.
Speaking to the pair for an article in decanter.com, they were both really excited about the prospects and hope to open the Kensington store before Christmas (for obvious reasons). They haven’t yet found a site in Notting Hill so it’s more likely the opening will come a little later. If things go well, they’d like to expand further.
It shows that if you do things right and think outside of the box, then you can succeed in hard times. As my dad always tells me, and reminded me when I decided to go freelance just as the markets crashed, ‘In adversity, comes opportunity’. He talks rubbish most of the time, but sometimes dads can be right.