A press release 'Les vins de Loire sous une même bannière de Nantes jusqu'à Blois' from Interloire issued during 2007 announcing the expansion of Interloire to include the Nantes' vineyards unwittingly highlighted the origins of the current conflict within Interloire.

Here are two crucial quotes from the release:

'Dès janvier 2008, elle lancera une nouvelle campagne de communication, confiée à l’agence Jump, mettant en avant la Loire, afin de valoriser son image d’entité viticole.'

(From January 2008 a new publicity campaign will be launched by the Jump agency that will concentrate on the Loire promoting its image as a wine producing region.)

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‘De la même façon, la fusion renforcera l’importance du négoce qui assure à lui seul 60 % de la mise en marché des vins, contre 25 % pour les vignerons et 15 % pour les caves coopératives, alors que la commercialisation, au sein de l’interprofession Anjou-Touraine, était également répartie entre négoce et producteurs.’

(The merger reinforces the importance of the négociants who will now account for 60% of sales, compared to 25% for the vignerons and 15% for the cave co-operatives. When Interloire just covered Anjou-Touraine sales were equally split between the négoce and the producers.)

The négoce has always been strong in the Pays Nantais so it was inevitable that when the Vins de Nantes merged with Interloire that the balance of power between the négoce and the producers would shift to being massively in favour of the négoce. The potential for conflict was there allied with the decision to promote an image of the Loire as Brand Loire to copy the Brand Australia approach that has until recently worked so well for Australia. The fact that the Loire's two largest négociants are now pan-France companies with their headquarters in Alsace (Grands Chais de France) and Bordeaux (Castel Frères) may not have helped.

Two years on from the merger the tensions have become evident. Can the two sides find an accommodation? Or will the producers continue to feel marginalised and railroaded by the négociants? It is worth remembering that, although the négociants sell much the greater volume of wine, it is the top Loire producers who raise the region's reputation. Currently the Loire has much going for it – a series of good vintages, especially the very promising 2009; an often high reputation for interesting wines at reasonable prices; and, if wine drinkers around the world really are looking for lower alcohol wines that are food friendly, then the Loire is one of the few wine producing regions that can and does deliver such wines.

Interloire's AGM will be held in Nantes on 22nd December – malgré le météo sera une reunion chaud! Time for accommodation and compromise, I trust.

See earlier posting on Bourgueil's UDI here and here.

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Today's edition of La Nouvelle République covers the recent vote by Bourgueil to quit Interloire as well as a report that the budget for the Salon des Vins de Loire has been cut on the insistence of the négoce so that this popular hitherto annual Salon will in future become bi-annual.

A glass and bunch of grapes on a roundabout between Saint-Nicolas and Bourgueil

Following François Audebert's comment on my post reporting the vote by the Bourgueil producers to leave Interloire, I spoke to François this afternoon. He is both vice-president of the Bourgueil appellation and a delegate to Interloire.

It was soon clear that my flippant comment about a re-run of Clochemerle was precisely that and that the malaise and sense of grievance is strong and not confined just to the appellation of Bourgueil. At the heart of the dispute is the age-old and often prickly relationship between the négoce and the growers, which here is demonstrated by a belief that greater emphasis should be placed on promoting the appellations. The need to create an image of the Loire in export markets is recognised but that the emphasis has swung too far to La Loire and it is time to return to promoting the appellations.

François Audebert: For the last two years the promotional approach of Interloire has been driven by the négoce with an emphasis on La Loire and on selling red Loire wine at the cheapest possible price. The appellations have not been valued. This is a terrible mistake as in the world market it is our appellations – our terroir and history that is our only defence against wines from other parts of the world that can be produced more cheaply because their labour costs are lower.

It isn't just Bourgueil that has become very disenchanted with Interloire's approach. There are similar strong feelings in Vouvray and, last night in a vote at Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil over whether to withdraw from Interloire, the vote was 101 to stay in with 91 to pull out.
(Jim: so just over 45% wanted to withdraw. At the vote in Bourgueil it had been 92% to pull out.)

François Audebert: We haven't taken any pleasure in this vote to pull out. It is a cry of despair – an extreme measure. I recognise that it is not possible for Bourgueil to promote its appellation by itself but we cannot continue like this – the appellations have been forgotten. Other Loire appellations are equally discontent but their protests are taking different forms.

Jim: Do you think you will be allowed to leave by the French government, who are currently looking to create fewer, larger and more powerful Interprofessions?

François Audebert: We haven't yet had a reaction from the French Ministry of Agriculture. In the future it may well be impossible to leave an Interprofession – we needed to make our protest before we were completely manacled to the Interprofession. There was a lot of anger from the appellations at Interloire's AGM in November last year. That is still the case in many appellations – it is just that protests take a different form in each appellation.

Following my conversation with François Audebert, I phoned Jean-Max Manceau, président du Syndicat des vins de Chinon. He confirmed that, like Bourgueil, Chinon has some of the same concerns with Interloire's approach.

Jean-Max Manceau (Domaine de Noire, Chinon) in his vines with 2009 juice: 8.10.09

Jean-Max Manceau: We need to see the appellations being given greater value and greater emphasis under the umbrella image of La Loire. We are observing and want to continue to talk. We are not ready to leave Interloire.

On Friday 11th December I spoke to Jacques Couly (Couly-Dutheil) and Jean-Martin Dutour. (Baudry-Dutour). They were both critical of Bourgueil's decision to vote for independence. Couly-Dutheil and Baudry-Dutour have a foot in both camps: on the one hand as the two leading Chinon producers but on the other as négociants.

Jacques Couly

Jacques Couly: The vote for independence does not take account of reality. An appellation like Bourgueil does not have the resources to go it alone*. We all have to make a sacrifice to promote Vin de Loire. In the current economic recession it is all the more important that we all work together. It is hard for all of us – I met Guigal in Paris the other day and was told that sales in the UK are a "catastrophe".

Jean-Martin Dutour

Jean-Martin Dutour: Partir c'est une bétisse. We have to create a strong image for La Loire.

(* I understand that hiring an attaché de presse (press officer – presumably part-time would cost in the region of 20,000€.)

(NB: All of these conversations were in French. In translation it is possible that I may have changed unintentionally the nuance of what was said.)