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French wine production and marketing is set for major changes in 2010; but will it all turn out to be just a case of old wine in new bottles?

A new system of EU-wide regulation aims to end the overproduction of wines (the so-called ‘wine lakes’), and to redirect funds towards making the European wine market more competitive.

On the other hand, restrictions on planting rights will gradually be abolished, thus allowing growers, who are competitive and successful, to plant more vines.

Wine making practices are also to be more flexible, but there is to be a tighter regulation of vineyards, with the EU taking full control of approving all new practices.
All well and good – so far!

However, the EU is also introducing a new system of wine labelling and classification; and this, not surprisingly, has generated a great deal of controversy and opposition.

Now, generally speaking, I have to admit that I am a supporter of the EU and its works, and not against the single market and harmonization of laws and practices - a view that actually divides our family! However, when it comes to these new EU rules on wine classification, I am firmly against them. In fact, I fully agree with the wine expert, Hugh Johnson, who characterises them as “an act of breathtaking stupidity….and the cult of EU-uniformity gone mad.”

The familiar ‘Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée’ (AOC) classification that has served France and lovers of French wines so well for the past 30 years (the Bordeaux wine classifications go back to 1855!), is to be replaced by a European-wide descriptive model, along the lines of regional food labelling.

The aim of these reforms is to make the whole system of wine labelling easier for the consumer to understand. But will they?

The AOC system was intended to guarantee a certain level of geographic authenticity and quality; but, since around 40% of the wines produced in France now possess this classification, some critics consider that the label has lost its meaning.

Again, a system that allows some AOC wines to sell for €30 or more, while other wines with the same classification can be found in the shops for less than €3, certainly seems of doubtful value to the consumer.

However, although the new regime will introduce a greater level of independent regulation of the market, for some wines the link between terroir and the wine in the bottle will actually become even more tenuous! This is wrong and to be deplored! It is, after all, the terroir (the soil, climate and production conditions) that gives the wines from certain geographical regions around France their essential and identifiable characteristics.

Under the new system, the terms with which we have all become familiar on bottles of French wine – Vin de Table, Vin de Pays, Appellation d'Origine, Vin de Qualité Supérieure and Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée - are being replaced by a hierarchical system of labelling as follows:

* No Geographic Protection - At the bottom of the hierarchy will be those wines with no indication on the bottle of their geographic origins – wines sans indication géographique (IG). They will merely be labelled ‘Vin de France’, with the possibility for producers to add the grape variety and the year of vintage. The minimum of administrative and wine production constraints are envisaged for these wines.
* Protected Geographic Origin - At the next level there will be wines where the geographic origins are protected – indication géographiques protégées (IGP). The use of this labelling is intended to group together those wines within particular geographic areas where climatic and production conditions are similar.
* Protected Designation of Origin - Finally, at the top of the hierarchy are those wines with Appellation d’origine protégée (AOP), where there exists an important link with the terroir, and for which strict production rules will apply.

The old labels will not disappear overnight: wine producers have been given until the end of 2010 to use existing labels. However, the new production rules come into force immediately.

The arrival of protected geographic origins now provides the opportunity to reshape the boundaries of those wines unable to achieve AOP status, but it has already provoked a great deal of controversy.

For example,, what is to be done for wines currently labelled 'Côtes du Rhône', which currently covers a distance of 200 kilometres in the Rhone Valley from Vienne in the North to Avignon in the South? Or those wines labelled 'Bordeaux', which coincides with the administrative boundary of the Department of Gironde?

In practice, the climatic, soil and production conditions are not the same across these vast areas, but wine growers are not going to accept loss of such prestigious geographic branding without a fight.

There is also considerable controversy over the ability of producers of former ‘Vin de Table’ wines to allow the grape variety on their wines, as producers of superior wines consider it will reduce the value and, therefore, the price of their own wines.

So, wine growers in Alsace, Jura and Savoie have persuaded the authorities that the distinctive grape variety of their wines - Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Sylvaner - should be excluded from the wine label of ordinary table wines. Therefore, a producer of a 'Vin de France' will be able to sell wines that contain these grape varieties, provided the cépage  (grape variety) is not mentioned on the bottle!

The regulatory wine body in France – the ‘Institut National de l'Origine et de la Qualité’ (INAO) – has the unenviable task of determining the contours of these new arrangements. Not only must they determine the new geographic entities, but they must also determine into which labelling group a wine producer can be placed. Reports indicate that the organisation is engulfed by the whole process and that the outcome it likely to be a mess!

Again, to quote Hugh Johnson:

“Does anyone believe that all this would be of any benefit to consumers? Wine represents an infinitely complex culture of its own. Those who trained and honed their appreciation and their palates on the distinctions between, for example, the appellations of the Cote d’Or will not be happy with a new set of rules changing a system that has taken centuries to create.”

With echos of the refrain of ‘La Marseillaise’ (“Grab your weapons, citizens!”), Johnson calls all wine lovers to arms with the stirring words: “As inheritors of something so rich and life-enhancing as the world of wine we need to act in its defence.”

I’ll certainly raise my wine glass to that! Will you?

Controversial EU Reclassification of French Wines

By Ian Blackshaw

This label probably won’t comply with any EU rules!

This one is from Romania.

A fine French wine, no doubt, but will it need a new label soon?

The label on a bottle of wine should  tell you  everything you need to know