FRANCE: Some young French wine producers are reluctant to destroy vineyards for the sake of economy, writes Séamus Martin in Puisserguier
The EU's agriculture commissioner proposes the "grubbing up", or digging up, of 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of vineyards as part of her plan "to create a wine regime that preserves the best traditions of EU wine production, reinforces the social fabric of many rural areas and respects the environment".
France, Italy and Spain, Europe's big wine-producing countries, are expected to withstand the biggest impact of Mariann Fischer Boel's proposed changes. But no single region is likely to be affected as dramatically as Languedoc-Roussillon in the south of France, which contains the world's biggest contiguous area under vines.
Its inhabitants have been renowned for their revolts against central authority. In the last great wine crisis in the spring of 1907, lives were lost as the vignerons sent strong messages to Paris by holding mass meetings, one of them, in Montpellier, 600,000-strongr. In Béziers, the 17th Regiment of Infantry, manned by sons of the region, mutinied in support of the winegrowers.
Now Brussels deals with the issue, but the Comité d'Action Viticole (CAV), an organisation bizarrely listed as "terrorist" in Washington because of its direct if minor actions in the past, has so far held its fire. Ms Fischer Boel's proposals are being carefully studied in the area. Older winegrowers, those approaching retirement, have so far been willing to dig out their vines and take the compensation.
Younger vignerons (wine producers), who have invested heavily in improving quality, are more reluctant. Some have torn out part of their holdings and used EU payments to improve their production even further in the vines that remain - but the air of crisis is palpable.
Winegrowers are struggling to make ends meet: a global drop in wine consumption has resulted in over-production. Many producers are finding it increasingly difficult to stay in business.
Puisserguier is part of the very highly regarded AOC of Saint Chinian - appellation d'origine contrôlée is a description awarded to French wine guaranteeing it was produced in the region specified and using approved vines and production methods. The village is dominated by its cave co-opérative (wine co-operative), a major complex completely out of proportion to the population of only 2,500. Vast stainless steel vats glisten in the sunshine of the Midi region, and at this time of year tractors arrive with trailer-loads of grapes for the vintage of 2006.
The predictions are that the 2006 Saint Chinian harvest will be of moderate quantity but extremely high in quality.
In his office above the production area, Xavier-Luc Linglin, the co-operative's managing director, spoke frankly about the crisis. He agrees with some of Fischer Boel's proposals but criticises others. A young man from across the Rhône in Provence, he has made a name for himself by producing wines of quality.
A new product from 2004, Château Puysserguier, in red and white, has come to the market. The red has not yet reached maturity but the white is a wine of stunning quality and has been bought by Harrods of London. Despite his success, Xavier-Luc, as he is known to everyone, is putting 12,000 hectolitres of the cave's 120,000-hectolitre 2006 production into distillation as industrial alcohol. "I am doing this merely to play the game," says Xavier-Luc. "If everyone put 10 per cent, this year's market would stabilise. But distillation can by no means be considered a definitive permanent solution to the problem."
In this respect he agrees with the Fischer Boel proposals: the EU commissioner intends to ban the use of distillation as a short-term remedy, especially as crisis distillation is now increasingly being used for quality wines.
Her proposals for simpler labelling, however, meet with less agreement. "It's all very well to say that a simple statement of grape varieties should be put on labels but it's not as easy as that. In Châteauneuf du Pape there are 13 varieties that go into the wine. How can you simplify this on a label?"
He agrees with Fischer Boel on the most radical of her proposals: grubbing up the vines is, he says, essential. Two hundred hectares have already been taken out of production in the co-op's area and this is little by little alleviating the problem. The other main effort will have to be in marketing, he believes. The French have long been used to guaranteed sales - not seeking out buyers. This will have to change.
French, Italian and Spanish consumers rely too much on markets not only in their own countries but in their own regions.
"People look at wines differently here. There are no 'popes' such as Robert Parker and others in the English-speaking world who tell their adherents what to drink."
Significantly, wines from AOC Saint Chinian are most successful outside France, in countries with French rather than Anglo-Saxon traditions: Canada and Belgium are among the leading importers.
The Puisserguier co-op exports just 14 per cent of its production, but this represents 24 per cent of its turnover. Xavier-Luc believes that the future of his wines lies in the export market, and so marketing will be the key to this success.
The Château Puysserguier flagship range will be a key factor in this export drive. The wine qualifies as AOC Saint Chinian but this is mentioned just briefly on the back label. His idea is to market the wine simply by its name and not by its AOC. It's a novel approach and deserves to succeed if only because of the wine's exceptional quality.
Both red and white from 2004 sell from the co-op in Puisserguier for €8.80 per bottle and could therefore reach the €25 to €30 mark if sold in Ireland.