AOC reforms hit new opposition
Date: Wednesday, January 17 @ 05:34:53 MST
Topic: Wine classifications AOC - Grand Crus...
New proposals by the French government for changes to France's wine categorisation system are once again meeting stiff opposition from producers.
"The trouble is the wine producers want more flexibility, like the right to use wood chips, but they don't want to lose the AOC name, or have another name", said Georges Pierre Malpel, advisor to France's Agriculture Minister, Dominique Bussereau.
Bussereau has been pushing for a simplification of French wine categories to help improve international wine sales hit by over production and international competition.
At present three categories of French wine exist, Appellations d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC), Vins de Pays and Vins de Table.
The main problem with the AOC category, which includes about 470 different wine appellations or names, is that within it the quality of the wines, and their prices, vary significantly.
In Bordeaux, for example, AOC wines range from a basic Bordeaux AOC costing as little as 1.50 euros a bottle, up to better quality wines from well-known appellations such as St. Emilion or Margaux, which can cost anywhere between 20 and several hundred euros.
Earlier government proposals to introduce a new category of AOC d'Excellence(AOCE), which would have had more rigid production rules and left remaining AOCs with potentially more flexibility, have been abandoned, Malpel said, as wine producers were not in favour.
The latest suggestion from the government would move lesser AOC wines into a new category together with the Vins de Pays. The names Indication d'Origine Contrôlée (IOC) and Appellation d'Origine (AO) have been suggested in relation to this move, but both may be abandoned as producers are also against this idea.
"It is out of the question. We will vote against [the IOC proposal]", said Bernard Farges, president of the Syndicat des AOC Bordeaux et Bordeaux Supérieur. "We want to remain a rigorous and dependable AOC", he added. Bordeaux AOC producers say they have already done much to help wine classification by creating their own new Vins de Pays category, Vins de Pays d'Atlantique, andthat this would be lost if the new IOC was implemented.
A spokesperson for INAO, the French AOC wine regulatory body, Elodie Pasty, has also suggested that given the difficulty of the issue, and the fact that recently sales of French wine have shown some improvement, all talk of AOC re-categorisation may be forgotten.
Another less controversial government proposal to create a new national wine brand name, 'Vignobles de France', which could be used by Vins de Pays and AOC wines primarily for export purposes, is also underway. The government hopes this will be finalised in March this year.
16 January 2007
Sophie Kevany
http://www.wineint.com
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