Overproduction and declining demand have forced the French wine industry to face the "bangs per buck" equation, writes Joe Breen
The French wine industry is in crisis. Again. This year the body that regulates the country's wine output ordered major cutbacks in production, because there is simply too much French wine on the world market and, as a result, prices are suffering. The Institut National des Appellations d'Origine instructed growers in most French wine-producing regions to reduce output for the 2005 grape harvest - but none by as much as those in prestigious Bordeaux. Wine growers had suggested reducing output by 10 per cent, in an attempt to stem the glut of wine and falling prices. However, Bordeaux makers were told to reduce output by about 12 per cent. In the first quarter of 2005, exports of Bordeaux fell by 11.4 per cent in volume and 17.9 per cent in value.
But it is not only Bordeaux that is feeling the impact. Other illustrious names, such as Burgundy and the Rhône, areas that are the backbone of the French wine trade and have helped set the standard for fine wine, are also suffering.
In Ireland, French wine now rests uneasily behind Australia and Chile in the number of bottles consumed. Between 1990 and 2004, consumption of French wine in Ireland only nudged forward, from 807,000 cases to just over a million, while overall consumption grew from about 1.5 million cases to almost seven million.
How can the country that was a byword for fine wine be languishing in this ignoble position? The answer lies in a mixture of arrogance, complacency and greed. While the new world was learning how to make and market wine, France was perfecting how to fleece long-suffering customers. Too much French wine delivered too little for too great a cost.
Yet France remains home to more great wines than any other country, and it is now learning that it has strength at the bottom and in the middle of the market as well as at the top. In other words, France is learning the bangs-per-buck equation and how to compete with the new world.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the often forgotten category of vin du pays. These country wines are the skinny, nondescript children of the French wine family, but they have blossomed since gaining official recognition, in 1979, and now their time has come. Sopexa, the body charged with marketing French wine and food, sponsored a competition to find the top 20 value-for-money vin du pays wines available in Ireland.
From an entry of more than 400 wines, a group of industry experts and media commentators cut the list to 20 by means of blind tasting. They further distilled this list down to their six best-value vin du pays wines available in Ireland.
Vin du pays is essentially an intermediate category between the humble vin de table and appellation contrôlée wines. In the fiendishly complex world that governs French wine, there are a number of levels of vin du pays: regional, such as Vin de Pays d'Oc (from Languedoc); departmental, such as vin de Pays de l'Hérault, based on the country's counties; and locally specific - that is, based on some historical or geographical phenomenon.
According to Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine, to qualify as vin du pays "a wine must be produced in limited quantities, must be made of certain specified grape varieties, must reach a certain minimum alcoholic strength, and must be submitted to a tasting panel, as well as coming from a specified area".
What all that means is that the better vin du pays producers have the scope to create good, even great wines, such as Mas de Daumas Gassac. But the greatest success has been in the area of varietal production, the battleground that the new world has had to itself for so long. Now there are Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots, Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Noirs, Viogniers and blends thereof, all from France and, more importantly, all challenging the new world for price and quality.
Of the 20 wines that make up the Sopexa list, 12 cost under €12 and only three cost more than €20, and all are serious wines. Of the final six, two are available from the Franch Paradox, an excellent shop and distributor in Dublin.
Mary Dowey, the former Irish Times wine writer, who chaired the panel of judges, said: "I found it interesting that even though a large number of Chardonnays were submitted, the quality overall was unremarkable. On the other hand, it was fascinating that the Viognier and Pinot Noir sections - both much smaller - performed so strongly. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon both came through fairly well, but the most impressive red categories were undoubtedly Syrah (and Syrah blends) and Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre and related blends. It was fantastic to see so many terrific wines in these sections."