FRANCE: How does your garden grow

Changes in fashion and climate are colluding to necessitate transformation in the varieties of grapes produced in France and the methods used, writes Gabriel Savage.

Topshop may may be able to turn out a new range of bang-on-trend green gladiator knickers within weeks, but the slow-growing nature of vineyard cultivation must provide an almighty headache for the Philip Greens of the wine world.

Thankfully, one man’s corporate nightmare is another’s delight in the glorious product of low-yielding 80-year-old vines. Somewhere in the middle of this spectrum lies the commercial balance which all producers must find if they are going to be in business next year.

Even if a grape variety is still in vogue after the cost and time involved in planting and waiting for mature vines, a winemaker in the Loire cannot simply roll out an AOC Albariño – and as the Australians painfully discovered last year, even legitimate replanting is prone to embarrassing cases of mistaken identity.

Nor is there any serious suggestion that France should abandon grape varieties which have long been proved eminently suitable and adapted for their individual terroirs. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the balance of varieties planted within certain regions is changing, driven partly by consumer demand and effort to compete with other wine-producing countries but also climate change.

On a more urgent note, the inaugural Grenache Symposium in June alerted delegates to the fact that this underappreciated variety has lost 40,000 hectares of vineyard in the past decade, many of them precious but unprofitable old vines in France.

Of more general concern was a report by Rabobank in May, which showed that declining exports and domestic consumption have created a serious problem of oversupply in France, which currently stands at 5.3% above demand. Combine these factors and the country’s producers face issues of diversity, quality and quantity before the grapes get anywhere near the winery or supply chain.

“France definitely needs to adapt and cut down production,” warns Dominique Vrigneau, buying director for Thierry’s Wine Services. However, he notes a key difference to the apparently similar oversupply problem currently being addressed by Australia. “Wine is like a commodity there,” Vrigneau remarks, “investment will change to something else and they will adapt well, but France is very different; wine is rooted in its culture and people will try to stay with it as long as possible.”

Despite his argument, Vrigneau suggests this French sentimentality over their vinous heritage is not translating into a practical commitment by the next generation to take over their parents’ vineyards, allowing for a certain degree of natural decline.

Moreover, certain regions of France appear to be more vulnerable to the problem of oversupply than others. In particular Vrigneau picks out the steeper, labour intensive slopes producing Beaujolais Villages and Muscadet, where he suggests “3000 hectares are estimated to disappear” as the region struggles to regain shelf space lost after the depleted 2008 harvest.

René-Louis David, general secretary of InterLoire, reveals that although “some vines are being grubbed up” at the Nantes end of the Loire, the news further upstream is far more positive. On the back of high demand for rosé and sparkling wines from Anjou and Saumur, David observes: “Producers have decided to encourage plantings of Cabernet [Franc] and Chenin Blanc, varieties of finer quality and lower yields used mainly in the most prestigious cuvées, to replace Gamay, Grolleau or Chardonnay.”

Further east in Touraine, the international popularity of Sauvignon Blanc means the variety “tends to be planted as a replacement to Gamay vines”, according to David.

Despite Bordeaux’s unsurpassed consumer awareness and insatiable demand from the Far East, once you move away from the rarified world of the top châteaux, the story is less rosy. Vrigneau paints a worrying picture, saying: “Bordeaux is really struggling; the price at entry level will be barely more than vin de table.” To this worry list, Nick Tatham, regional buying director for the Old World at PLB, adds the Languedoc, which he claims has lost 20,000 hectares in the last two years, “particularly along the flatter, lower regions towards the coast and in the valley bottoms”.

By contrast, Vrigneau sees healthier demand for regions such as Burgundy and Chablis, where “they do their job properly and are relatively niche”. Likewise, Foulques Aulagnon, export manager for the Comité Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace, is confident about the prospects for this corner of northeast France. “We are the only AOC in France, along with Champagne, that bottles in the region,” he explains, citing this as a key factor, along with the small size of most vineyards, that has kept Alsace sheltered from the industrial approach which Aulagnon feels is behind the oversupply problems in the Languedoc, Bordeaux and Rhône. “We are the exact opposite of Australian wineries that plant and then pull up thousands of hectares every few years,” he maintains.

Climatic considerations

Regardless of their contribution or vulnerability to France’s oversupply issues, many regions are witnessing a decided shift in the balance of their grape varieties. Fashion, or more specifically the commercial price commanded by certain varieties over others, is certainly playing a role in this.

Just last year though, Olivier Humbrecht MW spoke out about the very real change taking place in Alsace as a result of global warming, warning: “In the next 50 years we’ll have to start looking at different grape varieties.”

With sugar levels no longer as elusive as they were for his father’s generation, Humbrecht picked out the “flabby” Muscat Ottonel and similarly low-acidity Pinot Auxerrois as being prime candidates for deselection.

Importantly for Alsace, Humbrecht remains confident about the future of its star players Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris. Indeed, Aulagnon points to the increased vineyard space given to Pinot Gris, which has increased its hold in Alsace from 6% to 15% of total plantings over the past 20 years, largely at the expense of Sylvaner.

Although the effects of climate change tend to be most hotly discussed in the context of the most marginal vine-growing regions, producers down in the Languedoc are also being forced to reevaluate which varieties are best suited to the changing conditions.

As a general rule, it is the scruffy indigenous grapes which are winning the battle over more internationally recognised stars. Eric Fabre, winemaker at Château d’Anglès (and former technical director at Lafite), points to a resurgence for “ancient, traditional varieties like Mourvèdre or Carignan” in place of Syrah and Grenache on the basis that these varieties are “more resistant to heat and can give a more elegant expression of the terroir”. For the whites, Fabre sings the praises of Bourboulenc, calling it “a kind of white Mourvèdre”.

By contrast, when Fitou cooperative Mont Tauch completed a major replanting programme in 2007, it was largely Syrah which replaced Carignan. UK sales director, Antoine Leray, explains this decision was based on the fact that these Carignan vines “were planted on the deepest soils and yielded an irregular production in terms of quality”.

Nevertheless, Leray admits that hardy Carignan could well win the climate change battle, saying: “The years of drought bring into question the planting of Syrah on poor soils with a weak
water reserve.”

From a marketing perspective too, Leray believes the time could be right for these local workhorses, saying: “Market analysis suggests there is a renewed interest in traditional grape varieties.” Particularly when it comes to the Languedoc’s IGP wines, he maintains: “Marselan presents a very interesting alternative to Merlots distributed internationally.” Despite this, Leray finds that “on the export markets, it is still essential to have Merlot, Chardonnay, Syrah and Pinot Noir”. This view is backed up by the approach at Vignobles Lorgeril, whose owner Miren de Lorgeril reveals: “We will have 10 hectares of Pinot Noir producing wines for the first time this year in our Cabardès estate.”

This may seem a triumph of fashion over common sense at a time when others in the Languedoc are shifting back towards hardy southern natives, but de Lorgeril maintains he has chosen a spot “where the climate is cooler and highly suitable to this varietal”.

Meanwhile, buyers in search of something quirky may also be interested to note Laurent Miquel’s plan to introduce Albariño alongside his existing speciality Viognier as part of a new 26-hectare plantation at his Les Auzines estate high up in Corbières. Export manager Neasa Corish Miquel explains: “His motivation is the cool microclimate and limestone terroir at Auzines, which he believes will be particularly adapted to producing fresh aromatic whites and creating a new and unique signature style.”

But what of the prospects for the threatened Grenache? Leray describes it as “a key grape variety in our vineyards, just behind Carignan”, but observes “the difficulty has come from the degree of alcohol when [the grapes] are picked at good maturity”; although he notes that blending Grenache with Syrah can balance out this problem. For Gilles Gally, wine purchasing director for AdVini’s Languedoc subsidiary Jeanjean: “Growers are more concerned about the fragility of Syrah and the current trend is towards a decrease in the surface area of Syrah.”

However, AdVini’s Ogier winemaker, Didier Couturier, confirms that “Grenache is certainly under threat in the Rhône”, although again this seems to be at odds with the picture from Inter Rhône. A spokesperson from the body maintains that, while “the balance of different varieties is fairly stable in the Rhône at the moment”, there is a “slight tendency” towards replacing what it classifies as “secondary red varieties”, such as Carignan and Cinsault with Grenache, Syrah and even Marselan.

Inter Rhône also points to a collective restructuring plan begun this year across some 1,000 hectares in the Rhône, which it notes “should succeed in increasing the Syrah and Marselan surface areas of plantings, as well as white varieties such as Grenache Blanc in order to increase the number of white wines produced in the Côtes du Rhône”. Despite the efforts of the Grenache Symposium, the variety clearly has some PR issues still to address.

Laurent Sauvage, head winemaker at Skalli, argues the commercial point that “it is difficult to preserve Grenache, because most of the buyers prefer Syrah”. This fits with Sauvage’s wider belief that internationally planted grape varieties remain the most popular, citing the importance of these high-profile names as “the entry keys to wine for novices”. Not that he rules out a future for the Languedoc’s bobbery pack of obscure varieties, but suggests their future “will remain within niche markets primarily”.

Lessons from the New World

Perhaps one of the most interesting varieties to watch in France at the moment is Malbec. Its success in Argentina has reinvigorated the grape’s homeland of Cahors, whose producers are working hard to seize this opportunity for a return to the international spotlight. While elsewhere the New World is busy taking inspiration from France, Marc Lecomte, director of Rigal, another producer which falls under the AdVini umbrella, is happy to admit: “Argentine wines have led to a renaissance for Malbec.”

Not only has this development created a more secure future for the region’s Malbec vineyards, but Cahors has now adopted the distinctly un-French approach of using a grape variety as a key promotional ambassador for its wines, even flagging up Malbec on its labels.

Trying to impose an overarching theory on vineyard evolution across France’s diverse regions may seem foolhardy, but there are some clear patterns in evidence. Unless France can find new consumers soon, adapt what’s planted to fit long-term shifts in demand, or find another use altogether for unprofitable vineyards, we can expect bigger cracks to develop and inevitable casualties.

Those regions which will suffer most will be home to the biggest companies turning out indifferent wines which other countries can produce more cheaply and market more effectively.

Climate change will continue to force producers across the country to reevaluate the suitability of varieties for their location.

As the New World converts thousands of consumers to the likes of Pinot Gris and Malbec, France needs to seize this opportunity to capitalise on its generations of experience in producing top-quality expressions of these varieties.

Changing fashions will always present a seductive commercial lure, but France’s long-term success depends on the ability of its producers to identify honestly those varieties best suited to their terroir and invest in them. It then remains for some New World-style marketing nous to give non-Gallic consumers the welcoming assurance that, even if there are some unfamiliar faces in the room, this is a party where they can relax and enjoy themselves.

Gabriel Savage, October 2010