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Bringing French wine back to the fold
Gems from Southern France

In modern economics, market share is everything. Today, Australia has become the new goliath in terms of sales - producing user-friendly, fruit-forward wines at reasonable prices. Climate, utilization of modern technology and absence of restrictive legislation have enabled them to displace France, even California. And yet I can’t help but think that the continuation of this incredible success might be a bit of an aberration.

For France, it seems that the tide seems to be receding. Few, for instance, are aware that in terms of volume, the southern French Languedoc-Rousillion region produces 10 bottles for every bottle in Australia. While some believe that Southern France has the potential of burying Australia alive; one has to ask, what is holding them back? Why are they not producing better wines?

(map from 2004 Hachette Guide to French Wines)
- click on the map for a large size -

First, let us get things straight; there are plenty of well-priced, tasty wines coming out of this region. Poor quality on LCBO shelves is the result of the LCBO listing system, which places much more emphasis on “investing” large sums of money into LCBO advertising programs (i.e. Food & Drink advertising), than what is in the bottle. Only 20 points in 100 are allocated to actual wine quality! To see the LCBO’s amazing system for appraising new submissions click here 

Of course, the French have to take some responsibility - restrictive French legislation along with internal politics have hurt. It wasn’t all that long ago that growing classic Bordeaux grape varieties was basically banned in this region - they could not be used for prestigious appellation contrôlée (AC) wines. In addition, producers couldn’t use grape names on their labels.

Today, that has changed - even Chateau Mouton Rothschild has invested heavily in a joint venture in the Limoux region producing a classic red called Baron’arques. It utilizes both Mediterranean and Bordeaux varieties and compares favourable, qualitatively-speaking, to the best of Bordeaux. Ironically, up until 2002, it could only be sold under the ubiquitous Vin de Pays (VdP) status, in this case, de La Haut Vallée de L’Aude. Those not familiar with this designation can read the notes by Tim Atkins as they appear in the Foreword to the Hachette Vins de Pays – A Buyer’s Guide to the Best French Country Wines (published by Mitchell Beazley – ISBN 1 804000 953 5) – just click here

I was surprised to recently discover, for instance, that Viognier and Pinot Noir are VdP wines (sans AC status) or, even worse, labeled as “Vin de Table Francais.” An example of the latter is the gorgeous Domaine des Jougla 2000 Viognier - it is made at Alain Jougla’s highly regarded Saint-Chinian vineyard but not entitled to AC status. It has become so bad that many discerning wine lovers don’t care about AC anymore.

In trying to preserve tradition and terroir, French laws fossilize outdated regulations. Key winemaking procedures permitted anywhere in the new world, from the simple addition of acidity (to balance the wine) to the use of French oak staves in the stainless steel tanks to provide flavour at a reasonable cost, are outlawed. This denies winemakers the possibility of producing better wine at reasonable prices and hurts sales. The proliferation of new VdP sub regions only further confuses consumers.

The problem of separating the wheat from the chaff will always exist. There are still too many excessively filtered, flavourless, items out there - cheap but not very cheerful. Just like Ontario’s VQA tasting panel, minimum standards set by the French regulators are often rock bottom. Instead of rigor, we have rigor mortis.

Fortunately, some tasty, reasonably priced, southern French efforts are at the LCBO. At a comparative blind tasting of some general list 2002 Languedoc Merlots, Yvon Mau 2002 Merlot (336743) at $8.45 came out on top. As the lowest in price, it is a best buy - especially the magnum (572370 - $15.45). This VdP de L’Aude is dry and fairly well structured with faintly earthy, plummy, tangy, red cherry tomato flavours - great with a steak.

Huge quantities of such inexpensive wines are made. This means numerous bottlings and, by EEC law, each has a unique lot number. In the case of Mau, the back label lot number is L4072. Be aware, however, that there can be large swings in quality, even grape composition, from one lot to the next. How disheartening to discover in the case of one of the pricier Merlots that what was shipped last year was much better than what is currently available – all the same label/vintage but different lot. Today’s more frequent, smaller LCBO orders increase consumer exposure to such qualitative shifts.

Only Vintages and/or consignment orders show the terrific under $20 wines available. In the Vintages May release, for instance, is a charming organic effort (low 16 ppm free sulphur) - 2001 Domaine de l’Olivette (996280) at $12.95. Since it contains Merlot (along with traditional Syrah and Grenache), it is identified as a VdP Côteaux Cabrerisse (something that nobody knows) and not an AC Bandol, where the 18th century country house/vineyards are located! What matters is the attractive, juicy, ripe plum nose with dried cherry notes and delightful, dry, well-balanced, medium-light bodied, ripe plum and strawberry flavours.

Also, Domaine Clavel 2001 Les Garrigues Terroir de la Mejanelle (748814) at only $16.95 is one of my release highlights. This AC Côteaux du Languedoc blend of 50% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 20% Carignan has a complex, sandalwood, red licorice-tinged, plummy nose. On the palate it is full bodied and slightly smoky with stewed ripe plum and sun dried tomato purée flavours.

Those want to know more about these wines should consider read Paul Strang’s hardcover Languedoc-Roussillon: The Wines & Winemakers. This informative 192-page effort belongs to the Mitchell Beazley collection and was published in 2002 (ISBN 1-84000-500-9). It is available on the Chapters-Indigo at $42.00 (vs. $60 list) along with free shipping. For information click here. 

Anyone planning to visit the region is urged to try and track down a copy of spiral bound Gorley’s Guide The Wines of Languedoc-Roussillon. This outstanding effort by Peter Gorley  (click here to see) is published in the UK by HamiltonJohnPublishing (ISBN 0-9543892-0-4) apparently is now sold out.

Without question the annual Hachette Guide to French Wines 2004 (ISBN 1 84000 908 X) is the best guide on the market (although, lamentably the outstanding wine from Pierre Clavel referred to above are conspicuously absent). With over a thousand pages, this chunky compendium is crammed full of very specific useful buying information (over 9,000 wine recommendations). While the type is small, the bright white pages make things tolerable. The Chapters-Indigo website offer of a sizable 30% discount dropping the cost from $50 to $35 (click here to see). 

2001-2002-2003-2004 Tasting Note Database

Our tasting note database from December 31, 2000 to April 2004, covers every Vintages release product for the past 40 months. There are more than 6,000 notes in the database data. Just enter the name of the product, supplier name or CSPC number. Or you can search by type of wine, country of origin, even wine agent! Nothing could be easier. Also you can get information on the agent by clicking on the agent’s name, as well as current LCBO store inventory by clicking on "Check LCBO Availability", which will automatically tell you the number of bottles at LCBO as of last night.

To use our winefind.ca Tasting Notes Database: click here

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