Hard Times For French Wine Growers
Apr 24 2009 by Helen Savage, The Journal
landscape: french wine growers
THE lady from the Domaine de la Menècle looked cold and miserable. Although the market at Piégut is one of the busiest and best in South West France, no one was taking much interest in her wine and Cognac.
“It’s a waste of time here at this time of the year,” she told me. “Summer’s usually OK,” she added, cheering up a bit.
But when I asked how things were in general for her family business, she answered with a rather sad Gallic shrug.
Some French wine growers have turned complaining into an art form, but a series of events has turned the screw on what for many has become a pretty marginal enterprise.
The general economic crisis is biting hard.
French consumers are just as worried about their jobs and their ability to pay their bills as we are.
This situation is made much worse by a euro exchange rate that means anyone trying to export their wines to the UK (the world’s most valuable wine market) has been either forced to slash prices or lose orders.
The exchange rate also means that the dwindling number of Brits who holiday in France are much less inclined to buy expensive wine.
I speak from personal experience. I bought just one bottle of the Domaine de la Menècle’s delicious Pineau des Charentes. Last year I’d probably have splashed out on three.
Under Nicolas Sarkozy, France has adopted an aggressive anti-alcohol policy.
The Bordeaux police, for example, recently began random checks on cyclists.
Anyone found over the drink-drive limit (which is considerably lower than in the UK) is given a hefty on-the-spot fine.
A few years ago everyone agreed that something had to be done about France’s drink-drive problem, but the move against cyclists outraged Bordeaux City Council as well as the wine trade.
But as always in such hard times, there are those who somehow manage to put a brave face on their lot.
The growers of the Loir Valley (the Loir is a northern tributary of the great River Loire) made very little wine in 2008.
The early part of the year, up until the middle of August, was too cold and wet, though they escaped the devastating storm of May 31 that flooded cellars, washed away a hillside and ravaged many Vouvray vineyards just to the south.
As well as the noble Chenin Blanc, the Coteaux du Loir and its eastern neighbour, the Coteaux du Vendômois, are the main home of a rare and tasty old grape variety called Pineau d’Aunis.
Late budding and fairly late-ripening, it seems an odd choice for such northern climes, given that it is also prone to mildew (a huge problem in the damp of 2008). But when all goes well, healthy yields and a unique flavour, like raspberries dusted with freshly ground black pepper, mean that it’s far more than a regional curiosity.
In warm years it makes quite a gutsy, deep red wine.
But when the sun shines less strongly, its skins are relatively pale and it is better made as an unusually full-flavoured rosé.
One of the most impressive red versions is from the Domaine les Maisons Rouges.
The 2007 is packed with flavour and has quite enough body to stand up to a rare steak. But the poor weather meant that they were able to produce very little wine last year.
Just down the road, fortune smiled more benevolently on François Fresneau and his son Xavier.
Their yields were down, but they were less troubled with mildew and were able to make the most of the Indian summer that persisted through September into October. Local customers and restaurants buy much of their wine and their business is sufficiently solid to have allowed Xavier to rent some vineyards and even buy a plot of vines in order to make his own wine.
The genial François explained that his son has his own ideas and wants to experiment with techniques that he himself wouldn’t consider.
It’s early days, but the system of sharing resources, while doing things somewhat differently, seems to work well.
Xavier’s first vintage in 2007 was praised by the influential French Guide Hachette and his dad is clearly proud of what he’s managed to achieve. He has no complaints.
And even in Vouvray there are some happy growers. I receive a very cheerful welcome at the superb Domaine Vigneau-Chevreau, whose excellent wines, including my wine of the week, are sold locally by Richard Granger in Jesmond, Newcastle.
Using organic and biodynamic methods of viticulture, which normally doubles the amount of work required in a damp season, they came through 2008 with a smile, despite low yields, and even made some sweet wine.
I’m told that it is superb and I can’t wait to try it when it has been bottled.
Life may not be easy for French winegrowers in 2009, but not everyone’s complaining and a warm smile opens both doors and wallets.
