France relaxes its old wine rules to fight off New World challenge

Traditional methods have stood France in good stead for centuries but it now exports fewer bottles than Italy and Spain and is losing ground to Australia

Charles Bremner and Marie Tourres in Paris

In a heresy for traditionalists this means, for example, that you may grow gewurtztramminer, the classic Alsace white, anywhere in France and sell it as gewurtztramminer in the new Wine of France category.

Under the law the main label on a bottle will identify the wine as merlot, cabernet, grenache, chardonnay or other variety, as well as mentioning its vintage.
President Sarkozy and his Cabinet approved the measures as part of a five-year plan to win back market share from the all-conquering Californian and southern hemisphere wines. With its antiquated classification and concentration on the mystique of le terroir ¡ª the soil and traditions of the vineyard ¡ª France has lost out in the past 15 years as world consumption has risen.

The New World has won drinkers over with what the French regard as simple, standardised fruit-forward wines with brand names. Supermarket shoppers prefer labels with Australian marsupials to Appellation d'origine contrôl¨¦e from obscure villages with six syllables. ¡°French wine is complicated and often little understood,¡± the Agriculture Ministry said.

While it might raise some purist eyebrows the scheme has caused little offence. ¡°I have faith in the savoir faire of French winemakers,¡± said Jean Claude Ruet, chief sommelier at the Paris Ritz hotel. ¡°We will not fall as low as the Americans, who make vin ros¨¦ that is sugary and fizzy like soda.¡±

France, once the world's wine reference, now exports fewer bottles than Italy and Spain. It was overtaken by Australia in the British market three years ago. Thanks to the high-quality products of Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy, France still dominates the €17.4 billion (£14 billion) market in value, with 35 per cent compared with 25 per cent for the New World. The fight is now on for new wine drinkers in India and China.

The French industry generally approved the measures, which have been drawn up in the past two years.

Producers insisted that the system aims to boost ¡°entry-level¡± wines while keeping old restrictions on the quality AOC category. ¡°It's a way of giving new consumers a taste for wine,¡± Mr Ruet said. He was doubtful however about the merits of adding oak shavings to wine made in steel vats to add a woody flavour.

Jerome Agostini, director of the National Committee of the Wine Professions, said: ¡°Young generations of consumers need simpler wines that are easy to drink, sweet and aromatised. You cannot condemn practices like wood chips because we have to fight with the same weapons.¡±

The Wine of France is being created along with two other categories. The second one will correspond to a specific area and the third will cover the AOC appellation, of which there are 457.

Many critics say that the revered 75-year-old AOC system is in dire need of reform. In September experts commissioned by Que Choisir, the leading consumer organisation, decided that one third of AOC wines should be stripped of their appellations. ¡°The AOC label is no longer a guarantee of quality or a link to terroir,¡± it said.

Sections of the French industry have already been adopting New World methods to fight back. The Languedoc region of the Mediterranean has been particularly successful, importing New World vintners and playing up grape varieties.

Some have gone as far as inventing ¡°critter labels¡± to compete with Australia's Yellow Tail and assorted other parrots and wallabies. These include Rhôning Stones and Bois-Moi (Drink Me). A French Languedoc wine sold 1.3 million bottles to Australia last year under the brand of Arrogant Frog.