Fresh calls for branded varietal French wines

French wine producers have once again been urged to emphasise grape varieties over terroir.

Following the recent fall in sales suffered by the French wine and spirit market there has been a renewed call for French producers to introduce branded varietal wines in place of the usual focus on terroir to boost the country’s image.

Recent figures saw the cheap Vins de Tables recording a 0.3% rise in 2009 against 2008. It was the only group to record a rise, although cheaper Vins de Pays and sparkling mousseux remained more stable than the higher-end products of Champagne and Bordeaux.

Claude de Jouvencel, chairman of the Federation of French Wine and Spirits Exporters, admitted the need for a new approach in the wake of the figures.

“We lack products with a clear brand name and grape variety to reinforce our offer on the Anglo-Saxon markets,” he said.

France has a few branded wines such as Malesan and Baron de Lestac but it is the thousands of independent producers who make up the core of the industry.

Le Figaro commented that France’s entry-level wines were not competitive enough with their New World counterparts, who could offer far better quality-to-price ratio and in greater quantity.

It also highlighted the fact that there are nearly 400 different appellations d’origine contrôlée within France.

Guillaume Ryckwaert, chairman of wine merchant Raphaël Michel, said: “Wine has become a mass, global product. Consumers already have difficulty placing France on the map. How can you expect them to understand the difference between a Gigondas and a Vacqueyras?”

Speaking to Languedoc producers in November last year, Bruno Le Maire, the minister for Agriculture, said: “The world wants varietal wines. That’s how New World wines have managed to succeed in the export market. Why shouldn’t we do the same thing?”

Opponents of the idea say that branded wines are an assault on traditional labels and the sense of place so important to French wine.

Roland Feredj, director of the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) told the drinks business that Le Maire’s comments should not be taken out of context with regard to this years slump in sales and murmurs of reform.

Le Maire, Feredj continued, was stressing the need for practicality on the part of the Vins de Pays producers, at a time when the EU had reclassified their products as being “Wines with Geographical Indication”.

Le Maire told producers they “should be pragmatic and not use terroir as a sales aid.”

Feredj reiterated the singular nuances of terroir and said: “Clearly there are terroirs that give a particular expression to grape varieties and others where this seems to be less the case”.

In those cases where “the tie with terroir is less strong: the grape variety would be the thing to stress commercially.

“It is important to note that if pragmatism is a strength in marketing, that means that in the world wine market, notions of origin and providence are not contradictory but complementary, depending on the moment, the consumer’s aptitude for tasting and price level,” he concluded.

Rupert Millar, 23.02.2010