A tale of two cultures + pesticide court case

Epeigné-les-Bois: 4th June 2009

Cabernet Franc nearly in flower

Cabernet Franc starting to flower

Yesterday at the end of another lovely day I took a walk up to the vineyards to check out how the flowering is going. The Gamay and Chardonnay are now flowering and the Cabernet Franc is just starting – not that far behind Chinon, which is interesting as Chinon is a little over 40 miles further west. I rather expected the Cabernet to be further behind for although 40 miles doesn’t sound very much in mid-winter it can be below freezing here with snow on the ground, while in Chinon no sign of snow and 3-5˚C.

Tilled vineyard

Concrete-like ground with signs of erosion down the centre of the row

There was a marked difference between how the various parcels were tended. The first vines had been recently harrowed, while just 300 metres away or so two parcels devoid of any life (blitzed by weed killer) apart from the vines and the ground compacted like concrete. It was noticeable that the second parcel had problems of erosion even though the vines are on a gentle slope. Obviously when it rains the water just runs straight off the hard surface – the ground won’t absorb it whereas the tilled parcel will absorb rainwater, except for a torrential downpour.

Rainwater has dug a channel even though the slope is quite gentle

I suspect that the owners of all of these parcels send their grapes to the Cave Co-operative in Francueil. In the light of the discussion earlier this year on Jim’s Loire on sustainable viticulture, it is interesting to see these marked differences in the way the owners look after their vines presumably with the same economic constraints.

Close-up of the channel

Another view of the erosion

•••

Table grape producers sue over pesticide report

Following the publication of a report by MDRGF (Mouvement pour le droit et le respect des générations futures) on pesticides found in some samples of table grapes on sale in five European countries, the (FNPRT (The Fédération nationale des producteurs de raisin de table) are taking MDRGF to court for ‘denigration’. The FNPRT is claiming €500,000 in damages.

Details and links here:

MDRGF (Mouvement pour le droit et le respect des générations futures)

Ensemble pour les Générations Futures www.generations-futures.org

Comment piece in Libération – Les raisins de la colère

Have so far been unable to find a link to FNPRT.

Leaving aside the merits or otherwise of MDRGF, I think that FNPRT has been very foolish to go to court. They may well end up doing more damage to the image of French table grapes than that allegedly caused by MDRGF’s report of November 2008. Firstly their action is already giving the original report a lot of new publicity. The argument is shifting away from pesticide residues to freedom of speech as the damages claimed are so high that MDRGF are unlikely to be able to pay them without a campaign to raise money. Therefore generating fresh publicity and the impression that an organisation of producers, who may or may not use excessive quantities of pesticides, will be seen as seeking to crush an environmental organisation that seeks to warn the public.

This strikes me as a very stupid move by FNPRT. Before taking this action the French table grape producers ought to have looked at the Beaujolais producers' ‘disastrous vin de merde’ case against LyonMag, which rebounded against them horribly as a critical article in a local French paper got worldwide publicity.