Yves Guegniard with his Cabernet Sauvignon

Thursday 29th September was another very hot and virtually cloudless day in Anjou with temperatures reaching 32C in Saint-Aubin in the early afternoon. Even at 6pm it was still 30C in Brissac-Quincé. Many producers have spoken of how delighted and surprised they are by the change in the weather over the last ten days, which has transformed the outlook and potential of the 2011 vintage.

Cabernet Franc destined for Anjou Village Brissac at Domaine de Fesle (Jacques Beaujeau, Château de Varière)

Jacques Beaujeau checking the alcohol degree of his Cabernet Franc

Alexandre Cady (Domaine Cady)

 

Philippe Cady

Claude Papin auditions for the remake of Lawrence of Arabia (Chaume)

I'm not sure whether yesterday afternoon temperatures of over 31C broke any records but certainly a number of producers said that this is the hottest late September they remember. Here are some scenes from yesterday.

Typical mix of ripeness in a bunch of Chenin (Chaume)

Vincent Ogereau (Domaine Ogereau) with 2011 Rosé de Loire (Grolleau/Gamay)

Treading Cabernet in vat at Mark Angeli 

 Martial and Mark Angeli

Some producers cool down their vats - Mark cools his pickers

Mark Angeli finds inspiration...

Christophe Daviau (Domaine de Bablut, Brissac-Quincé)

Christophe (5.9.11): "We started picking our Chardonnay for the Crémant today. Later this week we'll pick the Sauvignon and the Grolleau. The Grolleau is around 11% potential alc. and part will be used for the Rosé de Loire and part for Topette (Christophe's fresh, easy drinking red closed with a screwcap). The Sauvignon is at around 12.4% potential alcohol with 5.2-5.4 acidity. Then early next week we'll pick the Chenin and Cabernet Franc for the Crémant.  

"It has been a really bizarre year with a lot of rain during the early part of the winter until January and then very dry after that until July. Hot and summery in April, May and the early part of June. Cold and unsettled in July and August with the occasional heat spike, especially around 18th-22nd August.

"There's no panic to pick – it is only early September. We'll pick the early varieties and then wait for the Chenin, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon for the still wines. The Chenin and the Cabernet Sauvignon are looking good, while the Cabernet Franc (on limestone for Petra Alba) is more complicated. The flowering was very drawn out and the last Franc berries only changed colour at the end of August. I will wait until the Franc is really ripe – end of September beginning of October. Planted on limestone Franc resists rain weather as the limestone acts as a sponge and the grapes don't take up the rainwater." 

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Christophe's Coteaux de l'Aubance was recently selected by Biocoop – see video here. 

 

Anne Guitton (née Guegniard) picking in Clos Le Grand Beaupréau, Savennières

We spent part of today wandering around the Aubance and the Layon, including another look at Chaume and Quarts de Chaume, before heading to Savennières for a delightful and simple picnic in the Clos le Grand Beaupréau. Getting to Savennières is decidedly difficult at the moment as the highway department has clearly decided that the start of vintage is the ideal moment to dig up most of the roads around Savennières.

Château du Breuil, Beaulieu-sur-Layon

View across to Château de Suronde, Quarts de Chaume

Christian Papin, Domaine de Haute Perche

Botyris developing rapidly in Christian Papin's Les Fontanelles vineyard (Coteaux de l'Aubance)

A neighbouring parcel to Christian's showing the danger this year of a slightly higher yield and less aerated bunches with the danger of grey rot developing

Christophe Daviau measuring fermenting must@Domaine de Bablut

Greeting two new wine consultants@Domaine de Bablut

2010 Gamay grapes

Brief report with photos from Cathy Shore of The Tasting Room   

'These were Gamay grapes coming in for Philippe's rosé.  He was pleased with the quality and conditions for harvesting that day were perfect -  dry and sunny.  He anticipates a few weeks before bringing in the Cabernets.  He managed to give us a great tasting in between receiving grapes and filling the press as well as pumping over the Gamay that came in the day before.  We remain impressed by Cheninsolite that has been vinified and matured in oak (Alexandre's wine).'

 

Alexandre Cady

My thanks to Cathy.

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Domaine Pierre Luneau-Papin, Le Landreau, Muscadet-de-Sèvre-et-Maine

I gather from Monique Luneau that they started picking last Tuesday and are pretty pleased with the quality of the grapes, although they are not as good as last year's exceptional vintage. They had some rain in the week following the 15th August and it was humid, so there is some rot and they have having to sort the grapes. Last year all the grapes were healthy. 

At the moment they are picking those parcels that they pick by hand and expect to finish these by the end of Wednesday. Hopefully we will be able to get down to see them. 

2009 Anjou, Château la Varière 

This 2009 – 100% Cabernet Franc – is soft and deliciously easy drinking. It has the rich, ripe fruit that is typical of 2009. We took it along with us to the Lahore Kebab House, in London's East End on Friday night. Happily we had booked a table as the restaurant was completely heaving with a large queue out of the door. It was good to try the Varière Anjou with Indian food and find that this 2009 stood up well to the spicy food.

 

2008 Amjou Villages-Brissac 

The 2008 Anjou Villages is more structured than the 2009 Anjou, although it also has attractively rich, supple fruit. It is drinking well at the moment but should also age well over the nest five or more years. The blend is 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon with the Cabernet Sauvignon aged for a year in barriques.  

See previous post on Château la Varière.

L-R: Fréderic Mabileau, Nigel Wilkinson (RSJ), Natalie Mabileau and Vincent Roussely

Frédéric Mabileau

Natalie Mabileau

Vincent Roussely

The third in the series of producer tastings to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the RSJ Restaurant in London's Waterloo. Last night it was a double bill Frédéric and Natalie Mabileau (Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Bourgueil, Anjou and Saumur) and with Vincent Roussely (Clos Roussely, AC Touraine).

It was another excellent evening with all of the wines showing well   

Aperitif 
1) 2009 Rose ‘Osez’ Rosé de Loire Frédéric Mabileau      £8.95
100% Cabernet Franc.

    
White:

Tasted on their own 

2] 2008 Sauvignon, ‘L’Esprit du Clos’, Vincent Roussely       £9.85

Old vines, barrel fermented.

3] 2002 Sauvignon, ‘L’Esprit du Clos’, Vincent Roussely        N/A

Old vines, barrel fermented. 

4] 2007 Chenin Blanc,  Saumur, Frédéric Mabileau       £17.45

Grapes come from Le Puy Notre Dame, handpicked two passges through vines. Fermented in 600 litre barrels. 2007 was the first year made exactly 60 years after Frédéric's grandfather made the domaine's last white from Chenin Blanc planted in Saint-Nicolas. 

Cured salmon with a crab and watercress salad

Served with first course 
5] 2009 Sauvignon ‘Le Clos’, Touraine, Vincent Roussely       £8.50

From younger vines, desigend to be a young and fresh wine.

6] 2009 Chenin des Rouillères, Anjou, Frédéric Mabileau      £9.95           

First vintage from Chenin planted four years on sand and gravel just to the west of Saint-Nicolas.

Red:

Tasted on their own 

7] 2008 Touraine Gamay, ‘Canaille’, Touraine, Vincent Roussely     £8.50
Canaille translates as outlaw, or rebel – someone standing apart. This Gamay has more weight and chaarcter than many Touraine Gamays.
                                                                        
8] 2000/2005 ‘Anthologie’, Touraine   Vincent Roussely   N/A

2000 was Vincent's first vintage back in Touraine after having made wine in Australia, South Africa and California. The 2000 included a little Gamay in with the normal blend of Cabernet (the majority) and Côt.

9] 2008 Bourgueil  ‘Racines’   Frédéric Mabileau    £13.25  
Frédéric has one hectare in Bourgueil planted on clay and gravel. 100% Cabernet Franc as are all his Saint-Nicolas wines.                    

10] 2008 St Nicolas de Bourgueil  ‘Eclipse’   Frédéric Mabileau    £18.20
Fred's most structured and ageworthy wine. Comes from old vines planted on the clay and limestone coteaux. Should last a good 10-15 years.                       

Roast English saddle of lamb

Minted Jersey royals, carrots, mange tout, purple sprouting broccoli,

lamb jus

Served with main course 

11] 2007 ‘Anthologie’ Touraine, Vincent Roussely,  £9.85
Good effort from a difficult year for reds.

12] 2008 St Nicolas de Bourgueil, ‘Les Rouillères, Frédéric Mabileau   £10.30                                     Fine balance of fruit and freshness.                       

Chocolate and hazelnut torte

with raspberry ice cream

This tasting of organic wines made 'without artifice' will be held at La Salle Jean de Pontoise Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné.

As the poster is a little difficult to read here are the vignerons who will be there:

Toby Bainbridge, Patrick Baudouin, Stéphane Bernadeau, Didier Chaffardon, Jean-François Chéné, Benoit Courault, Christophe Daviau (Domaine de Bablut), Jean-Christophe Garnier, Les Griottes, Nadège et Laurent Herbel, Richard Leroy, Christine et Joël Ménard, Agnès et René Mosse, Milene et Eddy Oosterlinck, Pithon-Paillé, Stéphan PZ, Bruno Rochard, Sophie et Jérôme Saurigny.

Further information: www.angesvins.com

••

Last night I received an email from Patrick Baudouin pointing me to his blog and to his posting (L'Oeil du Tri) on the tri of 30th October in the Quarts de Chaume. He disagreed with Philippe Delesvaux's pessimistic assessment that it was best to finish picking around the 20th October to avoid the rains.

••

Also brief news here of the end of the vintage at Domaine Aloha, Fiefs Vendéens.

Plus more news from La Pipette aux quatre vins on the 2009 harvest: '12 novembre 2009 – Les vendanges 2009, en Fiefs Vendéens'.

Philip Fournier (February 2009): is he really serious about building FL as an internationally reputed brand?

Today I was invited to a lunch at Rowley Leigh's Café Anglais in London to meet three producers: Philippe Fournier of Domaine FL (a fusion of Domaine Jo Pithon, AC Anjou, and Château de Chamboreau, Savennières), Dominique Meneret (Château de Brondeau and Domaine de Courteillac Bordeaux Supérieur) and the son of the owner of Tenuta la Novella in Chianti.

I have met Philip Fournier once before at a dinner in Angers in early February during the Salon des Vins de Loire. Fournier's stated ambition is 'to make Loire wines of the highest level at FL and to create an internationally reputed brand'. Thus it was more than a little curious to arrive and be told by an exasperated Christine Ontivéro, who until now has done PR for Domaine FL, that neither Fournier or his wines were present. Apparently Fournier had turned up at the railway station only to discover that his passport was out of date. It is not known why FL's wines hadn't arrived but suffice to say that those from Dominique Meneret and Tenuta la Novella had arrived at Café Anglais and were served during the excellent lunch.

The lunch had long been arranged, so it would seem foolish to get together a small group of journalists including influential figures like, Tim Atkin MW, Nick Faith, Rosemary George MW and Margaret Rand and to fail to get there. It is not as though Philip Fournier is some country hick. Instead he is the founder and managing director of the Afone telephone group with a turnover of €50million.

8 November 2009

Christophe Daviau checking Chenin Blanc in mid October 2009

I caught up with Christophe Daviau (Domaine de Bablut, Brissac-Quincé) on the phone this evening:

Christophe: "We finished on Thursday 29th October when we were still enjoying the summer weather. I'm very glad that we finished then as we have subsequently had quite a lot of rain. On the Friday it was still fine and summery but it got very humid on Saturday and we had rain on Sunday 1st November and we continued to have rain during this week.

Domaine de Bablut, Grandpierre Chenin Blanc 2009

"Although we will obviously have to see what the wine is like once it has finished fermenting, I'm very happy with the Coteaux de l'Aubance. The last tri of Grandpierre was 19% potential. I'm also happy with the Anjou Blanc sec. For the reds the quality is good but it would have been good to have had about 10hl/ha more. I haven't done the calculation yet but I estimate that the yield for the red was around 30hl/ha."

Cabernet Franc destined for 2009 Petra Alba, Anjou-Villages Brissac

Notes from the tasting:

Aperitif
2008 Anjou Blanc Sec Domaine Ogereau, Vincent Ogereau £8.25
Made from 70% Chenin and 30% Chardonnay, this is the least convincing wine in the normally exemplary Ogereau portfolio. Not that it is badly made, it is just that a Chenin/Chardonnay blend tends to work better as sparkling rather than still. I fancy that this would be a more successful wine if it was pure Chenin.

Whites:
2007 Château de la Roulerie Chenin Sec, Anjou Blanc Philippe Germain 2004 £10.75
Savennières Clos le Grand Beaupréau Vincent Ogereau n/a
1991 Anjou Blanc Sec Chauvigné Didier Richou n/a
replaced by:
2005 Les Rogeries, Anjou Blanc Sec, Domaine Richou

Served with roast skate wing, cod brandade, crab bisque

Philippe Germain's 2007 Anjou Blanc was the preferred wine in this series both by itself and with the skate wing as its clean mineral character, typical of 2007, showed well. I should probably give Thierry Germain, Philippe's elder brother, the credit for this wine as he is the winemaker. I thought Vincent's Savennières showed well with considerable complexity. Both wines illustrate that Loire whites are often as good from difficult vintages as they are from hotter, more acclaimed years.

1991 Chauvigné, Domaine Richou

Unfortunately the 1991 Chavigné was completely stuffed – oxidised. It would have been fascinating to taste this as 1991 is now very rare because a single April frost reduced the overall crop to a third of normal. It was swiftly replaced by the 2005 Les Rogeries, which perhaps needed time to open up. On this occasion the 2005 was rather dumb – very much in contrast to the 2004 which I drank in May, which was then sensational – rich, complex and balanced with clean acidity.

1997 Anjou Gamay, Château Pierre-Bise – sadly corked

Reds:
2007 Gamay, Anjou Gamay, Château Pierre-Bise
Replaced the 1997 Gamay, Anjou Gamay Château Pierre-Bise, which was unfortunately corked.
2007 La Croix de Mission, Domaine des Rochelles, Jean-Yves and Anita Lebreton
2006 Anjou Villages Vincent Ogereau 2005 Les Jeunes Vignes des Gelinettes, La Ferme de la Sansonnière, Mark Angeli

Served with: Roast saddle of English lamb, French beans, Chantenay carrots, fricassée of wild mushrooms, new potatoes

2007 La Croix de Mission, Anjou-Villages Brissac, JYA Lebreton

This was a very interesting range of reds unfortunately again disrupted because of a problematic bottle – this time the cork. Possibly, of course, the oxidation of 1991 Richou was due to a faulty cork but difficult to establish. The 2007 Papin Gamay was attractive on its own – soft red fruits and quite marked acidity but without sufficient concentration to partner the lamb. Had the 1997 not been corked I think this would have fared better with the lamb.

I thought the 2007 La Croix de Mission was showing extremely well – not a heavyweight but good ripe red and black fruits and well balanced. Yet another example of how having a good site in a difficult year can make all the difference, especially where Cabernet Sauvignon is concerned in Anjou. The concentrated and powerful 2006 Anjou Villages Domaine Ogereau was the favoured wine in this series, although less clear cut than the white trio. Ideally the 2006 needs another couple of years or so to further soften up. Drink the 2007s while you wait.

Mark Angeli's 2005 Gelinettes is certainly a petit bête – almost opaque, very concentrated, quite toasty and very tannic. It needs a lot of time and I have to wonder whether Mark didn't push the extraction too far or maybe it just needs time. If I didn't know Mark reasonably well I might accuse him of making a wine to attract the attention of a certain US wine critic but I'm sure that wasn't in his mind. To be fair to Mark, his 2005 showed much better with the lamb.

Sweet:
2008 Coteaux du Layon Rochefort Château Pierre-Bise, Claude Papin
Served with: pear and almond tart with saffron ice cream

2008 is a difficult or perhaps unfulfilled sweet wine vintage in that everything was looking promising until the end of October and then frequent rain took over in November. Wines from grapes picked early have a lot of charm and purity but they don't have the complexity or concentration of a good Layon vintage. Enjoy them as an aperitif or with a variety of rich dishes but not with dessert. Also drink them young. 2007 in contrast is a lovely sweet wine vintage. There are wines here that really will go the distance.

As is so often the case there have been considerable variations in the Loire weather depending upon the sector – meaning that some vignerons are happy, particularly in Anjou and the Pays Nantais, while others especially in the Cher are cursing what a year with 13 moons has thrown at them.

As a friend said yesterday – "Distances are SO big in the Loire!" Therefore, although it is tempting to generalise, it is dangerous.

Here is quick but not comprehensive round up:

Cher Valley

Conditions have been difficult in eastern Touraine with alternating fine weather and rain, so unfortunately a promising year for mildew. Furthermore there have been heavy but localized hail storms – one on the evening of 16th July and one last week on Friday 24th. The storm of the 16th produced some spectacular hailstones – the size of golf balls. See here.

There was some damage in Pouillé but probably more in Angé and then on the north side of the Cher between Monthou and Thesée. I understand that Jean-François Merieau (Vignobles des Bois Vaudons, Saint-Julien-de-Chédon) was amongst those hit. It was mainly his Gamay with some blocks suffering 80% damage with the overall damage estimated at around 20%. Fortunately the Sauvignon Blanc wasn't affected.

Thierry Delaunay

Thierry Delaunay (Domaine Joël Delaunay) reports:

Effectivement, il a grélé sur la commune de Pouillé le jeudi 16 juillet vers 20h 20h30. Il y avait beaucoup de vent aussi. Chez nous à la Tesnière, il est tombé quelques gros grélons gros comme des oeufs de pigeons ( j'en ai compté un dizaine, c'était à la fin de l'orage ). Donc pas de dégâts mais je me suis douté que l'on était en limite de l'orage de grêle et donc qu'il y avait surement des dégâts quelque part. J'ai pris ma voiture après manger vers 10h le soir pour aller voir mes parcelles les plus éloignées et ouf, rien quelques gros grélons aussi d'après des voisins qui discutaient dehors.

Mais apparement, le gros de la grêle n'était plus très loin. Effectivement un peu plus loin sur la commune de Pouillé vers Angé les dégâts étaient spectaculaires dans certaines parcelles de mes collégues. Comme en hiver!! L'orage de grêle était donc de Saint-Julien de Chédon jusqu'à Pouillé "Ouest" en passant par Angé. Il a traversé le Cher et a frappé entre Monthou et Thésée.

Vendredi dernier, il y a eu un nouvel orage avec une petite grêle très courte mais virulente. Nous avons eu des impactes sur certaines parcelles mais rien à voir avec l'orage du 16.

Voilà, vivement les vendanges ! Sans oublier un peu de vacances d'ici 15 jours !!

Didier Barrouillet

Didier Barrouillet (Clos Roche Blanche)

Mildew and black rot have been a problem this year with mildew on the grapes. Fortunately we didn't suffer much damage from the storm on 16th but we were more affected by last week's hail. Like 2007 and 2008 it has been a tough tiring year – due to the 13 moons?

Vincent Roussely

Vincent Roussely, Clos Roussely
(Vincent reports that his vines in Angé suffered 40% damage from the hail, while those in Saint-Georges weren't affected. He hopes that 2009 will see the end of the trio of three difficult years.)

'Les vignes situées sur la commune d'Angé ont malheureusement été touché à 40%. Celles de St Georges non rien, le millésime 2009, je l'espère terminera une trilogie assez difficile. En effet, la pression mildiou est, depuis le début de cette campagne, assez forte. Il faut rester également vigilant en regard de l'oidium puisque les nuits sont fraiches même en ce mois de juillet. '

Anjou
The news from Anjou – at least from Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay and Brissac-Quincé – is very different as here there has been virtually no rain since early June.

Christophe Daviau

Christophe Daviau, Domaine de Bablut
The vines are looking superb and the grapes are very homogeneous – all about the same size. It is very dry here – a little rain would be good just 10-15 mm. This would help the grapes to ripen because if it stays dry like this there is a danger that the vines will shut down and the grapes will stop ripening. I expect the véraison (when the grapes begin to change colour) to start in about 15 days. Most of the grass has gone all yellow – as though we had used weedkiller. Not the case of course as Christophe is bio-dynamic.

It is still too early to tell but the harvest for the early ripening varieties will probably start around 15th September – a little bit earlier than last year.

Vincent and Catherine Ogereau

Vincent Ogereau, Domaine Ogereau
The vines are beautiful – our team of workers finished working on them yesterday before the summer holidays – deleafing and thinning out. We don't have any bunches touching each other – all are spaced out. The vines are very healthy as we have had no rain since early June – 40mm fell that month and much of this on Monday 8th June. There have been storms but they have all been to the north of Angers. It was important to thin out the Chenin crop as some of our parcels had too big a crop – not surprising as last year was a small vintage. The harvest will probably start around mid-September but we will have to see.

While we chatted Vincent revealed that he had had a brain tumour removed in May and is now recovering. Fortunately it wasn't malignant and Vincent is now making a good recovery and hopes to be fit for the harvest.

Luc Choblet (Jérôme's father)

Pays Nantais
Jérôme Choblet, Domaine des Herbauges
Another happy vigneron reporting that although mildew has been a problem this year it is under control, although everyone has had to work very hard in the vineyards. Recently there has been a little oidium in the Chardonnay but again this is under control. They are continuing to expect a normal sized harvest and to start picking around 10th-15th September depending on the weather.

During my daily early morning surf or site-seeing, two items caught my attention. Firstly a good report by Charles Metcalfe in the Telegraph on the rapid decline in sales of French wine in the UK.

A typical cut-price offer on Australian wine in a UK supermarket

'Zut alors! French wine sales go down the drain

New figures show Britons now buy more wine from Australia and California than France. Charles Metcalfe explains why.

The holidays are just about here, and the children are anchored to Facebook or reruns of inappropriate American cartoons. There must be somewhere better, sunnier, healthier, where shorts and flip-flops oust suits and shoes, restaurants cost less and wine runs freely.

Depending on priorities, the average Briton makes for Spain or France. Spain for sun, and France for quality of life (translation: brilliant food-markets, €20 three-course restaurant menus, and inexpensive, crazily drinkable wines). We love France (if not the French).

So why have we stopped buying their wines? French wine sales have dropped 6.5 per cent in the last year, says the new edition of trade magazine Off-Licence News.'

Read the rest here.

See also report on agrisalon on significant falls in the sales of vins de pays and vins de table.

•

Then, secondly, this item in vitisphere.com about the new wine category that will be without IG (indication geographique – no mention of where they come from). In plain language the old vin de table category with new rules – principally that you can put the vintage and the grape variety on the label – previously this was not allowed.

'Vins sans IG avec indication de cépages et de millésime : un peu plus de clarté.
Le conseil spécialisé vins de France Agri Mer a voté jeudi 16 juillet à l’unanimité le nouveau cahier des charges des vins sans indication géographique avec mention de cépage et de millésime, nouvelle catégorie qui entre en vigueur le 1er août de cette année, donc pour la récolte 2009.

Le conseil spécialisé a choisi de donner à cette catégorie le moins de contraintes possibles, pour minimiser les coûts des entreprises et leur donner de ce fait des atouts sur les marchés d’exportation. Il n’y a donc pas de rendement maximal prévu, mais quelques contraintes ont été fixées par rapport aux vins sans IG simples. Les metteurs en marché seront identifiés par France Agri Mer sur simple demande, et le respect du cahier des charges sera vérifié de façon documentaire, au vu des analyses visant à prouver que la présence des cépages et des millésimes allégués est bien réelle dans les bouteilles. Il n’y aura cependant pas de contrôle de la qualité des produits et pas d’examen organoleptique.'

So no limits on the amount you can produce and no tasting control, although given some of the rubbish that gets through the appellation contrôlée agrément tastings ................. All the producers have to prove is that the bottles contain the grape varieties and the vintage claimed on the label. This all seems clear enough – just as well as the new EU wide category comes into force on the 1st August.

But, hang on, this is the French wine industry and things are never as straightforward:

'Si ce cadre permet dès 2009 de produire ces vins, certaines zones d’ombre persistent encore. D’une part, l’Alsace, la Savoie et le Jura ont demandé à ce que les noms de leurs cépages locaux ne puissent être présents sur les étiquettes de vins sans IG. La décision sera prise par le ministère de l’Agriculture au vu des conclusions demandées à Jérôme Despey, président du conseil spécialisé vins de France Agri Mer. D’autre part, le nom de cette nouvelle catégorie de vin n’est pas encore déterminé, l’expression « vin de France » prévue par les réglements européens étant contestée par les producteurs de vins avec IG, qui ne veulent pas que cette formule, utilisée d’autre part pour la communication générale des vins français, ne soit accaparée par une catégorie. Pour l’heure, la question n’étant pas réglée, on peut commencer à faire des vins sans IG avec noms de cépages et de millésimes en utilisant la mention « vin de France ».'

Full article here.

Certain French regions – notably Alsace, Jura and Savoie object to these new wines being able to put the names of their local varieties on the label. Although I can see that the name Riesling, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Gris even Gewurztraminer on a label may well help to sell the wine, I struggle to think that Mondeuse – a red variety from Savoy – or Savagnin – a white from the Jura – is going to help to shift any additional bottles. In any case what producer of high volume sans IG (there doesn't appear to be a convenient abbreviation here, so I'll go for SIG from now on) is going to use either Mondeuse or Savagnin?

The second objection to the use of the name vin de France by IG producers (ie what used to be called vins de pays) – could well prove to be more troublesome. These are the producers who have already had the designation 'vignoble de France or vin de pays de France' annulled in the French courts and sunk the earlier attempt – cèpages de France – to allow multi-regional blending.

What the legal objection to vin de France is I can't imagine, assuming that the SIG wine comes from France, but that probably won't stop a recourse to the law. You see echoes here of the hysteria that surrounded the perfectly sensible proposal to allow the blending of red and white wine to make rosé. It would be good to see the French Ministry of Agriculture throw both of these objections out but given the abject surrender by the Europe Commission to the pressure from rosé producers I fear they will crumble too.

I'm not surprised that French wines have suffered recently in the UK – the sudden drop is the sterling-euro rate certainly hasn't helped. Many price lists are sent out at the beginning of the year and were set when sterling was at its weakest. Several UK importers told me during this year's Salon de Vins de Loire that French producers were about to lose a substantial part of the UK market.

This may, of course, not be entirely bad news as Jérôme Chobet of Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu has discovered: his sales in the Chinese market are growing fast and they treat Muscadet as a grand vin. How solid a market China turns out to be remains to be seen. Cognac has found Asia-Pacific, especially Japan, to be a notorious fickle market but wine is not the same as spirits...........

••

One interesting aspect of the new SIG category is that it appeals to small, producers of individual wines like Mark Angeli in Anjou, Pascal Potaire in Touraine and others, who despair of the AC system refusal to say anything about looking after vineyards in a sustainable manner. A system that is full of rules about what grape varieties you can plant, etc. based on apparent typicity, but which permits the widespread use of an armoury of chemicals, which may or may not be fatal for the long-term life of the soils.

Although a number of wine makers have previously chosen to sell their wines as vin de table, this has supposedly prevented them from putting details like the vintage and where it comes from on the label. There are, of course, ways around this by calling a wine Cuvée for instance. Doubtless they will find ways around restrictions on saying where the wine was produced.