As millions of people embark on an austere non-drinking regime for Dry January, one French mayor has blasted the campaign.
© Orange Tourisme | The mayor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape has had enough of the “infantilizing” attitude around Dry January.
It seems the wine world never tires of tying itself in knots over the most esoteric of topics, and it’s at it again in France.
This week saw numerous French publications turn the spotlight on Trouspinette – a Breton wine (of which more, see below) similar to Vermouth, made by macerating hawthorn shoots in red wine, prior to filtering and the addition of sugar and spirit. The interest came after French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau gifted a bottle of Trouspinette to each minister as the new government got down to work in the new year.
Still in French government circles, a right-wing minister in France’s Rassemblement National (the former Front National, or National Front) has tabled a bill that would see France’s strict Evin Law (which severely limits the level of advertising and promotion of alcohol in France) relaxed for wine.
MP Christophe Barthès, from the Aude region of the Languedoc, is proposing that wine be classed differently to other alcoholic beverages. It is not known when the bill will be debated.
Here are some more headlines you might have missed this week:
Châteauneuf-du-Pape mayor slams Dry January
The mayor of the town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape – known for a one-off Papal sojourn as well as the epicenter of the eponymous wine appellation – has hit out at the concept of Dry January, calling it “insulting” and “infantilizing”.
Claude Avril, who has held the mayoral office since 2020 and whose brother Paul was the winemaker at famed producer Clos des Papes (Paul’s son Vincent took over in 2009), was speaking to French radio station Ici Vaucluse (part of the FranceBleu chain) on the subject last weekend.
He said he had “had enough” of the Dry January concept, in which participants do not touch alcohol for the month of January. Although the concept originated in the UK, it has been adopted by many in France.
“I find it insulting,” he said, “because it doesn’t trust our sense of responsibility. It gives the idea that people are going to get drunk on wine [and] drink bottles all day long without any capacity for moderation. It’s infantilizing. It’s absolutely unbearable.”
He also said that, given France’s wine drinking trends were already in a nosedive (down 20 percent in the past 10 years, he said), there was no need to add abstinence into the mix.
Is bulk wine the answer to tariffs?
This was the question asked by French wine news publication Vitisphere.com this week, which looked at the opportunities for wine producers to use bulk wine shipments and private label bottlings in the US as a means to bypass potential import duties on bottled wine into the States.
“Bulk shipments [in 2019] appeared as a way to circumvent this additional tax, and could again play a role if the future [sic] president carries out his threats,” began the piece.
Trump brought in a 25-percent import tax on EU bottled wine (as well as other traditional produce such as cheese and olive oil) following a trade dispute between Boeing and Airbus. These were suspended by the Biden administration in 2021.
From traditional product to hard marketing, however, it was hard to imagine a French winemaker reading the following without a frown:
“Very often inspiration comes from Nielsen data. If a retailer points to a trend toward Sonoma Chardonnay, for example, and doesn’t carry it, there’s a good chance they’ll create a private label to fill that gap,” Adam Schulz, a wine broker based in Washington State, told the publication.
Nonetheless, for segments of the industry in dire straights, the allure of private label bottling will not be lost to many. Indeed, last week saw a number of French news outlets rehash an AFP agency piece on French wine cooperatives struggling to adapt to current market conditions.
“A long way from the Grands Crus Classés, [cooperatives] bring together thousands of winegrowers who have been hit hard by the industry crisis between overproduction, falling consumption and climatic change: the time has come to restructure and diversifiy,” said the piece, which appeared just after the New Year.
The US certainly offers openings to some.
“About six years ago, private labels did not exist in the US,” said Jonas de Maere, head of sourcing for multinational Belgian retailer and distributor Ahold-Delhaize. “When I was sent there in 2019, Ahold-Delhaize USA did not have any.”
The firm now produces some 150 private labels, accounting for around five percent of its sales.
“Our goal is to increase our total wine sales to 10 percent in the coming years,” added de Maere.
However, whether or not the American public will embrace such wines – even if they are French – is not guaranteed. The US wine consumer remains relatively conventional in outlook
“[Being innovative] doesn’t work well. We tried to launch a Vinho Verde a few years ago, but it didn’t take off,” said de Maere. “In general, we don’t succeed with little-known grape varieties or regions under private labels and instead we try to focus on segments that have already proven themselves, such as New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.”
The buyer added that the alcohol-free wine sector – in which France is an EU leader (Italy only just gave the green light to no-alcohol wine production in December – see “Italy gives green light to zero-alcohol wine” in Jayer Sale Makes Auction Record) – was another potential segment for growth.
French winegrowers protest over Greek wine
More direct action from the south of France this week, where winegrowers descended on a French wine merchant after news got out that it had imported and bottled an unknown quantity of Muscat of Samos – a step too far in the land of Muscat de Rivesaltes.
On Wednesday morning, members of agricultural union Coordination Rurale blocked off access to the CVR (Compagnie Vinicole de Rivesaltes) Bourdouil negociant firm (part of the sizeable La Martiniquaise wine and spirits group), located just a few kilometers northeast of the eponymous town of Rivesaltes – itself just north of regional capital Perpignan, in the Roussillon. Vineyard posts and recently grubbed-up vines as well as old tyres were dumped in front of the entrance, blocking access.
“Muscat of Samos go get your wines drunk in Greece” read the banner stretched across the access road to the plant.
“We’re not selling our wines; the vats are full and we want to make the wine merchant aware that Greek wine imports are killing us,” said one of the protestors.
News outlet France3 Occitanie said a delegation of protestors was “promptly received by management”. The blockade was lifted at 11am.
The news service said rural ire had been raised after a winegrower, during another direct action operation in a Hérault (Languedoc) supermarket in December, noticed that a bottle of Muscat of Samos had been packaged (i.e. bottled) locally.
“More than half of our output is made up of client bottling, of which there is a little Muscat of Samos,” said Bourdouil boss Bernard Langlois. “Whether it’s bottled here or elsewhere does not mean it competes with Muscat de Rivesaltes. We need these [Samos] wines to diversify and ensure our productivity.”
The protestors were not convinced, although they were somewhat disparaging of their Greek counterparts.
“From the outset, Greek wine is cheaper than ours and of truly different quality but in the end, it’s the same price for the consumer,” said Philippe Maydat, head of the Pyrénées-Orientales branch of Coordination Rurale. “There are people making margins in the middle … margins that go beyond what’s fair.”
“We are support the expansion bottling lines. But providing services to importers of foreign Muscat in Rivesaltes, the birthplace of Vin Doux Naturel, is breaking our hearts. It would be better to promote our local sweet wines,” added Maydat.
According to the report, the négoce firm said it would put pressure on its distributors to promote Rivesaltes wines.
Brittany IGP causes tremors in Muscadet
The recent news that the northwestern French region of Brittany was looking to establish its first IGP title (see “Brittany launches bid for IGP status” in Wine Boss Gunned Down in Mexico) has caused consternation in the Pays Nantais (Muscadet) region after it emerged that winegrowers in the region had not been consulted on the project.
The subject is a tricky one. While modern-day Brittany administratively spans four departments: Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine and Morbihan, the Loire-Atlantique department (which includes Nantes and much of Muscadet) was, historically, a fifth department in the region.
Furthermore, some winegrowers in the Loire-Atlantique have been pushing for a Bretagne IGP to cover their produce for over a decade. According to local newspaper Ouest France, the Loire-Atlantique winemakers were “surprised” at not being consulted on the latest IGP Bretagne efforts by winemakers in administrative Brittany – often first-generation winegrowers who have set up in the last few years.
“We could have done this [project] together but it’s a bit of a game of hide-and-seek. It’s a shame because it basically ignores winegrowing Brittany, which is largely in the Pays de Nantes,” said Pays de Nantes winegrower Thierry Jolivet.
Jolivet is also the head of the Syndicat des Vignerons de Bretagne (Union of Brittany Winegrowers), which represents the Pays de Nantes push for the Bretagne IGP.
However, winemakers in the Pays Nantais already have access to an IGP: Val de Loire. Indeed, moves by the Pays Nantais winegrowers to claim the Brittany title (what they see as a historic right) is also doubtless a drive to differentiate their produce from the wider Loire Valley (the IGP Val de Loire spans a huge 14 departments across western and central France) on the shelf.
Given the Pays Nantais represents 500 winegrowers across 9500 hectares, their complaints at not being included in an IGP Bretagne push on the part of a group of small, primarily organic, first-generation winegrowers in administrative Brittany, seem a little disingenuous.
“We are very open [to talks] on territorial issues but we must not lose sight of the consumer,” said Loïc Fourure of Domaine Dantelelezh in the Morbihan department.
Indeed, the battle is one of image. Should the IGP Bretagne title have an image of small, organic, first-generation (almost hobby) winegrowers or that which encompasses a wide collection of growers and producers in an already established and highly productive winemaking zone? Furthermore, can it accommodate both?
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