That's the way to do it - building a French wine brand

If there’s one thing that French winemakers can’t do, it’s create big successful brands, right? Well, maybe not…

It’s true that French wine is traditionally governed by the dictates of the Appellation Contrôlée laws, so that AC (or AOP nowadays) wines are labelled according to their geographical origin. This is fine for really well known ACs/AOPs like Bordeaux and Champagne which are, in effect, brands which transcend the geographical nature of the regulations.

But what about  AOP Côteaux du Giennois? Or AOP Côtes de Toul maybe, or AOP Tursan? A good number of the over 300 wine AOPs in France are househould names, but many more, like these ones, are not. Consumers (and even wine trade folk) cannot be expected to know where they all are and what style of wine will be in the bottle. And why should understanding wine be such a difficult business anyway?

Building a commercial brand often means departing from the strict regulations of the region’s AOP. Consumers want to see a name that they are familiar with, which provides a feeling of comfort and security - without the need to understand French wine law.

The Vin de Pays category, so successful in the 1980s and 90s, did act as a kind of brand. The vast majority were from that huge swathe of vineyard areas in the south, collectively known as Languedoc-Roussillon. Vin de Pays d’Oc was a boon to wine drinkers: often varietally labelled, usually good value red, white and rosé wines that were easy to understand and appreciate.

Now, however, Vin de Pays is no more and wines should instead be labelled as IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée). Though Languedoc-Roussillon producers can also put the words “Pays d’Oc” on the label, as a nod to the good old days of Vin de Pays d’Oc.

French producers who want to include grape varieties outside the rules of the AOP can often use the IGP as an alternative. For those who want to blend between regions, something that is common in the New World, the catch-all Vin de France category is a useful support. And yet thus far, there have been few truly successful French wine brands.

One French wine company which is doing better than many at building brands is Badet Clément. You may not have heard of the name, but you may well have seen their Les Jamelles wines in the Co-op; or perhaps come across one of their Abbotts & Delaunay range on a restaurant wine list. They also have a range of other brands which are more directed towards other markets across Europe and beyond. Their total annual production of 15.6 million bottles gives you an idea of the scale of their operation.

Surprisingly, perhaps, all this is the work of a husband and wife team, Laurent and Catherine Delaunay, who recently celebrated the twentieth anniversary of their business. Of course Badet Clément is more than Laurent and Catherine, who now employ 50 people and boast a shiny new winery to facilitate even further growth in future.

Their Les Jamelles wines are a neat range of varietally labelled wines (all IGP) with plenty of easy-going consumer appeal at keen prices.

Les Jamelles Viognier £5.99 until 12 July (usually £6.99) at the Co-op

A Viognier for people who don’t like the variety’s richness and weight, which can tend to flabbiness. This has good fresh acidity and juicy fruit with just a hint of peach.

Les Jamelles Syrah - £5.99 until 12 July (usually £6.99) at the Co-op

Soft, ripe Syrah with a mix of red and black fruit characters that speaks of the warm south, but with a good brightness and freshness too.

Les Jamelles Réserve Mourvèdre £7.49 at the Co-op

My favourite of the range, this has bags of brooding, black fruit with some herbal character in the background.

Little and Large in the Languedoc

Bad news stories about French wine are ten a penny: falling consumption, losing ground to the New World, too much poor quality stuff still made. However, the picture is not entirely bleak and there are also many success stories to be told – and I do not just mean Bordeaux First Growths lining their pockets thanks to cash-rich Far East investors.

The Languedoc, the world’s largest wine-making region, covering a vast swathe of southern France, has, as you might imagine, its fair share of what might politely be called unambitious wines. However, it is also home to quality-minded producers, proud of their unique terroirs, their old vines and confident in the region’s ability to make top notch wine.

Languedoc is also a stronghold of wine-making co-operatives, organisations which unite independent growers who provide their grapes (or sometimes juice) to a central facility which makes, matures and bottles the wine; and finally, markets it. It’s clear that such a model does not automatically drive high quality production – in less switched-on co-ops, where growers are paid based on the amount of grapes they deliver, there is little incentive to focus on quality, by maintaining vineyards with lower-yielding old vines for example – or on such concerns as sustainability.

In today’s competitive wine market there is ever less room for such a quantity-driven approach, however. Those wine co-operatives which are thriving nowadays are those which are dynamic, forward-looking and who embrace modern technology, but who also respect what growers with valuable vineyard plots are able to provide them, focusing on quality rather than quantity. Off the top of my head I’d point to Plaimont Producteurs in France’s Southwest, the Caves de Turckheim and Ribeauvillé in Alsace and Mailly Grand Cru in Champagne as co-ops which fit this description.

Vignobles Foncalieu, headquartered near the impossibly picturesque medieval walled city of Carcassonne, near Toulouse, have also showed that they are determined to aim higher in their quest to provide a market for their 1,200 individual growers stretching from Gascony to the Rhône Valley. Those growers tend 5,000 hectares of vines and produce 23 million bottles of wine annually.

At those levels of production, it would be foolish to say that quality is uniformly high, but it is certainly true that Foncalieu, under the leadership of President Michel Bataille, is focused on driving up quality and moving away from the “stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap” mentality.

As part of their push towards the top, in 2012 Foncalieu bought the well-regarded Corbières estate, Château Haut-Gléon, which it now runs as a kind of business within a business. Its wines are hard to find in the UK currently, but if you would like a taste of what the sleeping giant of Corbières is capable of, keep your eyes peeled for them. Perhaps the best way to sample Haut-Gléon’s wines is to go and stay at the Château itself, which has been refurbished to provide luxurious accommodation.

But as any student of marketing knows, there is always more than one strategy for success in a market. To say that Domaine Jones is at the opposite end of the scale to Foncalieu is to risk understatement. Founded, owned and run by Katie Jones, this pint-sized winery in the Fitou region of Languedoc makes just 20,000 bottles of wine a year from 10 hectares of vines.

Katie moved to France just over 20 years ago and spent most of that time helping to market and sell the wines of the Mont Tauch co-operative. In 2009 she made the leap and bought her first parcel of vines in Maury just over the “border” in Languedoc’s neighbour, Roussillon. A small and isolated plot of old vines with blocks of different grape varieties, as Katie says “The very things that make my small vineyard unattractive to the big growers make it a paradise for me.”

Although size-wise these two producers may be poles apart, they do share some common ground. The vast majority of the wine they make goes to export markets – 80% for Foncalieu, 98% for Domaine Jones.  They are also, in their different ways, part of the process of helping the Languedoc to climb out of the cheap wine ghetto.

Foncalieu and Domaine Jones wines in the UK

Katie Jones’ wines are available through Majestic, Naked Wines and The Wine Society – though, as they are necessarily made in rather small quantities, they are not all always in stock. Some of Katie’s most exciting wines are her whites and unfortunately, due to an act of vandalism last year, when the vats were deliberately emptied, all of her 2012 white wine production was lost.

Domaine Jones Côtes Catalanes Grenache 2012 - £11.95 from The Wine Society

At its most basic, Grenache makes wines that are fairly simple, combining strawberry fruit and white pepper. However, old vines such as these bring greater concentration and full-bodied, ink-tinged fruit.

Katie’s biggest production is of the red blend, Fitou, though currently both Majestic and Naked Wines have sold out of their stocks of 2011 – the 2012 will be on its way. Naked Wines customers can currently enjoy the simpler charms of her Le Petit Train Corbières 2012 (£9.99/£7.49)and Le Petit Train Syrah 2012 (£10.99/£8.25).

Domaine Cambos Gros Manseng 2012 – on offer at Hennings Wine Merchants for £5.50

From the Gascony end of Foncalieu’s production, Gros Manseng is a white grape incapable of making boring wines – fresh with a distinct grapefruit tang and a surprising amount of weight and persistence on the palate (and ony 11% alcohol).

Le Versant Viognier 2012 - £8.50 from Hennings Wine Merchants and other

independents

Le Versant is Foncalieu’s core range of varietal wines, which you might come across on many a restaurant wine list. This Viognier is their top seller in the range and supplies plenty of the variety’s typical stone fruit and honeysuckle aromas, with a more savoury feel on the palate.  Also look out for Le Versant Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon at around the same price.

Vines on Waltons' Mountain: Virginia wine

If you are of a certain vintage then Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains will mean just one thing:  The Waltons.  I can still hear that rather melancholic signature tune and picture John-boy and Jim-bob in their dungarees, doing some shucking or another mysterious American rural poor activity. 

Now, however, we have to adjust to the fact that Virginia produces more than just wholesome family dramas and has embarked on a mission to make wine. 

As so often happens, what we think of as the New World newcomer actually has a long history of vine-growing:  Virginia’s wine journey had its beginnings in the 1600s.  Its most famous historical influence is Thomas Jefferson, the French wine-loving US president who brought vine cuttings from Bordeaux to his home in Monticello in the 18^th century.  However, the modern-day incarnation of its wines really only began around 40 years ago, so its wine-makers are still getting into their stride when it comes to matching the best sites to grape variety and establishing their signature style. 

 

Virginia ranks as the US’ 5^th largest wine producing state but, with just 0.5 million cases produced annually, they are still a small player in the market.  Domestically most of their production is consumed locally – Virginia is lucky that “local” also includes the thirsty capital, Washington DC. 

A company called New Horizon Wines began importing Virginia wines into this country in 2009 and now sell around 2,000 cases a year here – putting us in the novel position of being Virginia’s number one export market. 

 

Conditions on the Eastern seaboard of the US are somewhat challenging for vine-growing.  Anyone who has visited there in the summer months will know that hot and humid is the norm.  Coastal sites stay fresher, but poor transport links mean this area is under-developed in general, with few vineyards.  The central area has red clay based soils and a high concentration of wineries, though land use pressure from urban development is acting as a cap on new plantings and driving up vineyard prices .  The Blue Ridge Mountains in the north and west of the state are home to a cluster of wineries where the soils (shale, decomposed granite and volcanic), climate and elevation are all favourable. 

The state’s most popular grape varieties are Viognier for white wines, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, alongside Bordeaux blends for reds.  French oak is favoured over American, setting them apart from the leviathan that is California, though a little of the tight-grained Virginian oak can be found.

 

It’s unusual, to say the least, to find Viognier as a signature white grape – outside of its home in the northern Rhône valley in France, it is generally a supporting actor rather than a lead.  Part of the reason for its popularity here is because its thick skins help to protect it from rot during the humid summers. 

 

While Virginia wines are not exactly commonplace over here, there are some available for you to search out.  Here are some of my favourites: 

Veritas Viognier 2011 - £19.50 from Prohibition Wines and Bedales

Here, vines from various sites help to give interest and 7% Petit Manseng (a decidedly niche grape really only grown in the very far southwest corner of France) adds its trademark acid structure and grapefruity tang.  Fermented in stainless steel and then given six months in old oak barrels, its intense, pure apricot aromas lead onto a relatively restrained and zesty palate with lingering spice. 

Barboursville Viognier Reserve 2010 - £17 from The Wine Society, also at Christopher Piper and Handford Wines

This was fermented and aged in stainless steel by a producer whose Viogniers are renowned for ageing (albeit for a modest 4-6 years).  The wine is fairly deep-coloured and the nose has an earthy, mineral dimension. The palate is big on texture, with a beginning, middle and end, and flavours of hay, straw and ripe mirabelle plum.  A big-boned but well-proportioned wine. 

One of the things that I particularly enjoy about these two is their fully dry nature and balanced alcohol, which is perhaps lacking in the commercial styles of California wine.   

On the red front, it’s always fun to see what varieties like Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot can do when allowed to shine alone, instead of being subsumed into a Bordeaux blend.   

Barboursville Cabernet Franc Reserve 2010 - £18.50 from The Wine Society, also at a range of independents including Oxford Wine Company

There is ripe fruit and plenty of oak, but good freshness too, despite the 14.5% alcohol.  Tannins are ripe, with no hint of greenness.  It has a rich ripeness, and is about as powerful as Cabernet Franc gets. 

White Hall Petit Verdot 2010 - around £20 from Christopher Piper, Prohibition Wines and Selfridges

There is not much Petit Verdot planted as yet but producers are growing in confidence with the variety and are working to achieve elegance and complexity in what can be an overwhelmingly powerful grape. The nose is a typical blend of ink, spice, pepper and quite toasty oak, followed by a ripe and dense attack and acidity backing up the structure.  It still feels very youthful, ripe and opulent, but remains rather immovable.   

This Petit Verdot, like Virginia as a whole, is one to watch for the future.  Perhaps in time we’ll come to associate the Blue Ridge Mountains with fine wines rather than pick-up trucks and dungarees.  Goodnight John-boy.