"Enough," says Michel Chapoutier, "get my capital out of here."

Although Michel Chapoutier is not a Loire producer – not yet anyway as far as I know though he might welcome having a decent white grape to work with – the threat from the French Government policies is the same. Taken from John Livingstone-Learmonth's excellent Drink Rhône site:

‘In response to the continuing French government clampdown on the wine industry, with prohibition on any Internet mention or promotion of wine (i.e. a good mention = promotion), Michel Chapoutier of Maison Chapoutier in Tain l`Hermitage, Northern Rhône, issued the following statement on Saturday 20 September, 2008:

"Given the anti wine policy of those who govern us (take advertising on the Internet as an example), we are deciding to re-orient an important part of our future French investments towards countries outside France. That is why we are therefore stopping our researches in Beaujolais to head our capital towards Portugal, and also some declarations of intent to invest in the Languedoc Roussillon will be diverted to Australia and California."

Mont Ventoux from vineyards in Rasteau.
Ventoux dominates the southern Rhône
where Chapoutier has some of his vineyards.

"Some other fruity comments attached themselves to modern dictatorships, but we needn't concern ourselves with those from the always voluble Michel. His view reflects what many growers tell me in private - that when received in the USA, for instance, or generally outside France, they no longer feel as if they are criminals. Truly, the French government is building up problems around a lost generation of wine drinkers, since much of the youthful drunkenness does not involve wine. Yet wine bottles are shown when binge drinking is portrayed (much as is done by the BBC in Britain), while the culprits are most commonly alco-pops, spirits and beers.

"As a good friend, I have often discussed such matters with Michel, and "il faut dénoncer" (one must denounce or expose) is exactly what he has done with this statement."
(www.drinkrhone.com/goings-on.html)

This is just the start.......

Posted below is a press release from Benoît Roumet, the director of the BIVC, the organisation that promotes the Loire’s Central Vineyards.

Referring to the demonstrations of 30th October Benoît notes that the problem of wine’s status on the internet may now be in the process of being sorted out. Other problems remain, however, such as the question whether the French Government will legislate to ban all free tastings. Also the proposed banning of the sale of alcohol in service stations and the whole uncertainty that now surrounds any mention of wine in the media in case it is judged to be advertising and so condemned.

This sign spotted in Sancerre on Sunday morning indicates that the demonstration wasn’t a one-off and that the struggle has just begun.

'Ce n’est que le début
Le 30 octobre dernier, sous des cieux peu cléments, les professionnels des vignobles du Centre-Loire ont symboliquement manifesté leur grande inquiétude face à la non-réponse du gouvernement aux différentes questions qui se posent actuellement à la filière. Alors que le problème Internet semble en voie de règlement, les professionnels des vignobles du Centre-Loire attendent que le gouvernement se prononce également sur les autres problématiques tels que : la vente au forfait dont l’interdiction générale remettrait en cause les foires aux vins organisées dans les vignobles, la restriction des points de vente avec le risque pesant sur les stations-service, le droit à l’information afin que les médias et les créateurs ne soient plus dans l’insécurité juridique lorsqu’ils parlent de vin puisque toute évocation du sujet peut être requalifiée en publicité et condamnée. Dimanche matin, le message aperçu à Sancerre montre que les vignerons, les négociants et toute la filière du Centre-Loire ne se démobiliseront pas et que le combat ne fait que commencer.'

See also blog of Hervé Lalau: http://hlalau.skyblogs.be/post/6392651/saint-emilion-nexiste-plus#7899457

Stéphane Cossais: a cautionary tale

(16th August: last day of visits with the Wine Detective – Montlouis)

Stéphane outside the entrance to the cave

We left La Cave Insolite to drive to Stéphane’s cave. Finding 12 bis Route de Saint-Aignan looked easy enough as this is the road from Montlouis to Saint-Martin-Le-Beau. Unfortunately few of the properties along the road are numbered and reaching number 36 it was clear we had overshot. The only vignernon’s property we had passed was that of Christian Martin at No 28, who would later feature in Stéphane’s tale.

The entrance to 12 bis

Anyway we found a small, short track leading up to the base of the river cliff. No number, no names but a wine press on a concrete plinth and a locked entrance to a cave set into the coteaux with a pile of wooden beside it and next to the Moulin Rouge, which I fondly but wrongly imagined was some wild and nefarious night club. Disappointingly it turns out that it is just a restaurant. A quick mobile call and Stéphane soon arrived – it turned out that he had cut short his holiday and come over specially from Saumur to see us.

The 'exotic' Moulin Rouge

Before tasting Stéphane told us how he came to be a vigneron and of his series of misfortunes.

Stéphane is unlikely to find his fortune making wine as a small scale Montlouis producer. He could, however, make a very comfortable living from advising people to avoid his example and give up the dream of becoming a small, boutique producer making exquisite wine. I can see the pitch now: “Look at all the problems and misfortunes that I have suffered and turn your back on viticulture.”

“My background is classical music,” Stéphane explained. “I spent four years in Lille but my passion for wine proved to be stronger than my devotion to music. I knew Saumur-Champigny as my mother has a business in Saumur. I enrolled for a year’s course at the Lycée Viticole de Montreuil-Bellay and I really wanted to make Saumur-Champigny. I spent three stages (periods of work experience) with the Frères Foucault.

“I became captivated by Chenin Blanc and starting to look for vines in four Loire appellations: Savennières, Saumur, Vouvray and Montlouis. In 2001 I managed to rent 2.4 ha of Chenin here in Montlouis. I have three hectares now. When I started in 2001 I had less than a Euro in my pocket but I wasn’t prepared to make concessions.


"The first year my wine was very bad because I started off with equipment from an old vigneron. Unfortunately the barriques were dirty, so I had to change them in 2002 and sell my wine at a greatly reduced price. A frost on 11th April 2003 was the next disaster – that year I only made 9 hl/ha. Then my bank said ‘bye-bye’ – they weren’t prepared to fund my overdraft any more. So, if I was to continue, I had to find €23,000 by 31st July 2003. I started a subscription and we managed to raise €210,000. With the heat wave in 2003 we began picking on 15th September but the Chenin was already 15˚ and I wanted to make dry wine!

“More disasters in 2004! I was hit by hail and the owner, Christian Martin, of the vineyards I was renting tried to get rid of me.” Martin apparently disapproved of Stephane cultivating the vineyards organically and going for low yields – pruning so that he has six buds – the practice of the Foucault brothers – instead of the more traditional eight.

There appears to be quite a tradition for vineyard owners, especially those perhaps inclined to look for high yields and with a belief in the efficacy of a chemical regime, to attempt to get rid of the young producers renting their vineyards who have different ideas and different approaches to viticulture. Nicolas Renard, who made some remarkable wines in Jasnières during the 1990s, was eventually forced to give up following a long dispute with the owner of his vineyards. Also the valley of Le Loir Eric Nicolas of Domaine de Bellivière apparently had problems initially with vines he was renting that were solved when he was able to buy his own vineyards.

The pneumatic press

Fortunately Stéphane was able to get an expert to testify that he was looking after the vineyards properly and he won his case before the tribunal.

During this tale of woe we tasted the honeyed and toasty 2006 Les Maisons Marchandelles, which also had some slightly unclean flavours. “This is the last vintage,” Stéphane suddenly announced. Sarah (the Wine Detective) and I exchanged shocked glances and assumed that serial adversity had finally driven Stéphane to give up his dream to be a vigneron. Fortunately this was a misunderstanding. “I’m giving up making Les Maisons Marchandelles because my wines need a long time to stabilise and this cuvee only has 18 months. In future all my wines will have 23-24 months in barrel. Les Maisons Marchandelles on argile-silex (clay and flint). Unfortunately it doesn’t get enough morning sun and it’s the morning sun that makes quality wine, evening sun gives you plonk.”

Stéphane continued with his history. “In 2005 I made 30 hl/ha, in 2006 it was 17 hl/ha and in 2007 it was 22 h/ha. My aim is to have 30-35 hl/ha. I now have four hectares of vines.”

Next we tasted samples of the rich, concentrated and mineral 2007 Le Volagré that will be bottled in 2010. Stéphane: “I want to avoid having a malolactic fermentation”. Le Volagré comes from a vineyard at Saint-Martn-le-Beau, where the soil is more sandy. Then we moved onto the much fatter and honeyed 2006 with some toasty notes. “I’m not happy with the toastiness,” said Stéphane. “I had 10% new barrels in 2005, 20% in 2006 and none in 2007.

We finished by tasting firstly the sensational 2005 Le Volagré – wonderfully rich and honeyed but with great balance because of its acidity and minerality. Then 2005 Cloelote a 14% moelleux from passerillage with 70 grams of residual and 3.4 gms acidity, which was quite rich but balanced with good acidity but it was Le Volagré 2005 that really stood out.

The world divides into optimists and pessimists – those who see the glass as half full and those for whom it is half empty. Stéphane appears to be firmly in the pessimists’ camp. Throughout our visit he stressed the problems and, in particular, what was wrong with his wines. Our assessment on the evidence of the finished wines, admittedly a tiny sample, is that Stéphane is making good, individual wines and that it is newcomers like him that is making the small Montlouis appellation dynamic and interesting.

Before we left we had a quick photo opportunity and as I took the shots I realised who Stéphane reminds of: José Mourinho formerly Chelsea’s ‘special one’.

What's José Mourinho doing in Montlouis?