Jacky Blot and François Chidaine squeezed out of Vouvray – an update

François Chidaine and Jacky Blot with their Vouvrays

Last week I spoke to Jacky Blot to find out if there had been any change to the ban on Jacky Blot and François Chidaine vinifying their Vouvray in the commune of Montlouis. Jacky gave me an update: the situation was unchanged but he had recently sent a detailed letter to the current director of the INAO. To date François and Jacky have not commenced legal proceedings. 

However, if I have correctly understood the legal position – see this post on Les 5 du Vin – the INAO in Paris would surely not welcome having to defend before the Conseil d'Etat (France's Supreme Court) the part of the 2009 Vouvray décret that has been used to stop Blot and Chidaine from vinifying their Vouvray in Montlouis. It would appear that the INAO would have to convince the judges that Montlouis is not a neighbouring commune of Vouvray and that the permission to vinify his Vouvray in the commune of Montlouis given to Jacky Blot by the INAO in September 1999. 

This would certainly be a tall order for the INAO, as by the bridge across the Loire, the southern limit of Vouvray is on the south bank of the Loire touching Montlouis. Nor, in the September 1999 letter to Jacky Blot from the INAO, was there any mention of a time limit to the permission to vinify Vouvray in the Montlouis commune.

Will the director of the INAO be prepared to tell Vouvray that the relevant part of the 1999 décret cannot be defended? À suivre!