New CIVB president and grand plan for Bordeaux

Georges Haushalter has been elected to replace Alain Vironneau as head of the Bordeaux wine council.

Haushalter will lead the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) for three years.

He was previously general manager of the wine merchant Compagnie Médocaine des Grands Crus in Blanquefort, a position he had held since 2002.

At the same time Haushalter held positions as president of the Union des Maisons de Bordeaux and the Bordeaux Wine Merchant’s Association. He has also chaired the CIVB Marketing Commission.

Haushalter’s appointment was announced as a new initiative designed to push Bordeaux wines and simplify the region for consumers called “Bordeaux Tomorrow” was laid out.

The campaign has set out a plan to reduce the current 1.1 million hectolitre production of what is considered “basic Bordeaux” that retails for €2 euros or less in France – a category described as not corresponding “to the image of Bordeaux”, according to Haushalter.

By introducing grants and subsidies it is hoped that a vine pull scheme will provide a 7% drop in vineyard surface, with a 26% drop in grower numbers, while also encouraging growers with greater potential to follow more successful role models to boost productivity.

As well as effectively killing off struggling producers, the Bordeaux Tomorrow plan aims to change the region’s bulk wine market to avoid price fluctuations.

One way of doing this will be to “encourage cooperatives to consolidate and become stronger in generic appellations”.

At the same time, production from more profitable areas of the region will be raised by 12%.

It is hoped that the result of this scheme, coupled with a simplified labelling system, means revenue levels will rise from €3.5 billion to €4.5bn by 2020.

Rupert Millar, 29.07.2010