Dr Vino's wine blog

This question is for the true wine geeks out there:

Which French wine producers have “quit” the AOC system and make at least one table wine (vin de table)? I can only think of Aime Guibert at Domaine de Daumas Gassac in Languedoc but there are undoubtedly others (I think Michel Rolland has declassified some of his wines and have vague notions about Northern Rhone producers too). Are there any other appellation geeks out there who can help me come up with anything more specific?

All right, now back to our regular programming of “wine talk that goes down easy.”

I am at the Winevolution trade conference in Paris…Very interesting panels but limited time to post. Until I get a chance to post about some of the activities, feel free to scan the program at winevolution.org. Back soon.

America will pass both France and Italy by 2008 to become the country with the most wine consumed says a study from VinExpo, the French trade show.

The 28% growth rate in America contrasts with a 2% growth rate in Italy and a decline of 7% in France.

But in the per capita consumption rates, the US will still be lower thanks to the large swathe of America that doesn’t drink any alcohol.

What do you do if you have 250 million liters of extra wine lying around? Why burn it of course.

The wine cooperative organization CCVF and the FNSEA want to distill what they consider France’s excess wine and have requested €300m (US$390.8m) in public funds for it. While it is not unusual for such a prolific producer to siphon off a part of the national production, it is shocking that 200 million liters of that excess will be appellation (AOC) wines, about 8% of national AOC wine production. Usually that undignified fate is reserved for lowly table wines.

With 466 wine appellations right now in France, not only is it difficult for consumers to keep track of them but the AOC grade has clearly not saved the skin of many producers who make wine that has no commercial market. In a surprising development, this includes wine from Bordeaux.

The French regulatory body, INAO, has strict rules on what it takes to become an appellation. As they currently contemplate reform, considering what it takes to remove the appellation status if the terroir makes it commercially non-viable may be a logical next step.

Severely limited in advertising wine since 1991, French winemakers appear poised to be able to market their products more after a bill passed the French Senate.

The Loi Evin, has been the bete-noire of the French wine industry since its passage in 1991. It has been blamed for contributing to the decades-long decline in French wine consumption. Wine consumption among young French in their 20s has declined sharply and the thinking in the wine industry is that more marketing will better capture this generation that prefers the heavily marketed beer or soda.

However, supporters of the Loi Evin point to France’s high level of road fatalities, nearly twice that of the UK. Limiting alcohol is the best way to make the roads safer in their view (although one group in the south of France wanted to remove all the trees that so often line the roads in French departements.)

The campaign against drunken driving has taken its toll on the marginal and mainstream players in the wine industry. In a recent interview, a wine authority in Paris told me that, diners, limited to one drink if they intend to get behind the wheel, now choose to forgo the aperitif. As a result the makers of the sweet vin doux naturel, a common aperitif in France, are suffering. But the campaign has hurt consumption of other wines as well.

More marketing is not a panacea. To date, French wine ads even in America have been much more bland than their full-bodied wines. Better get the creative juices flowing and come up with a good ad campaign.

Or else start subsidizing the metro!

The Financial Times reported this morning that Chirac wants a summit with Bush to help mend relations. This couldn’t come at a better time for the Bordeaux wine makers.

Export data out today reveal that while Bordeaux wine exports fell in volume and in value across the board, the US saw the sharpest decline with a
staggering 35% deline in volume and a 59% decline in value.

Yikes. Millennium hangover. It’s definitely time for a summit — and some PR?!