France red in the face over US wine plans

The US wants to sell wine in Europe bearing a ‘château’ or ‘clos’ label. The French are not happy, writes Raf Casert

DRINKING a Bordeaux wine from a “château” is as French as swigging Kentucky bourbon is American.

But now tempers are flaring across the vineyards of France. The US wants to sell some of its wines in the EU with — sacrilege — a “château” or “clos” label. Is that cheating? Misappropriation? Whatever it is, the issue has the Bordelais turning claret with anger.

“What is at stake is the respect for tradition and quality,” Laurent Gapenne of Château de Laville and president of the Federation des Grand Vins de Bordeaux told the Associated Press.

For American vintners, it’s a question of selling more wine in their top export market, unshackled by historic language or restrictive terms in the world of 21st-century globalisation.

“People use words in different ways,” said WineAmerica chief operation officer Cary Greene, arguing that there should be no ban on US bottles carrying the word “château”.

The French argue that hundreds of years of craft are at stake. They’re worried the cachet a mention of “château” or “clos” (a walled vineyard) — which shows the origin of the wine — carries is diluted if other winemakers start to stick it on their bottles in Europe.

Yesterday, EU experts were to vote on the issue, but that was postponed after talks on Monday between the EU and French farm minister Stephane Le Foll.

“I asked my services to clarify all of these matters,” EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos said, effectively ruling out an immediate decision.

It’s the latest skirmish in a transatlantic wine war that has seen the US grow from an upstart to an increasingly confident competitor on world markets.

US founding father Thomas Jefferson was enamoured with French wines and the French held dominance over world wine traffic until well after the Second World War. Then came the 1976 ‘Judgment of Paris’, when, to French astonishment, California won a major blind taste test.

To this day, that event is considered the “tasting that changed the wine world”. That never sat well with the French, and since then wine relations have often had an edge.

So when the European Commission decided to act on a US request to regain permission to export château and clos-labelled wines to Europe — including France — the anger was palpable.

“The European Commission is bartering our heritage and our economic clout at the expense of globalisation,” said Gapenne.

“I cannot understand that they would yield on this.”

For the US, the benefits of tapping the European market are clear. Even though it is declining, the 27-nation EU still accounts for 57% of global wine consumption.

Last year 34% of US wine exports by value went to the EU, accounting for $478m (€370). And the industry is counting on removing trade barriers worldwide to push exports even more.

In comparison, the EU said its exports to the US stood at €2.2bn last year. The global turnover of France’s Bordeaux wines stood at €4.2bn and 55,000 jobs, while the Burgundy region added €1bn and 20,000 jobs last year.

While the Americans feel they are unfairly locked out of a market, the French feel that centuries of careful cultivation is being thrown up for grabs. “There would not be a level playing field,” Gapenne said.

While French château bottles find their origins in wines made at the estate from grapes belonging to the château, the US definition for export would use less stringent conditions on provenance. It could include grapes from “vines that have been traditionally used by this wine producer or producer group”.

“We think the definition we presented is fair and reasonable,” said Greene. “The definitions we put forward, we believe accurately reflect what we think the market place can stand and what consumers can understand.”

For the French, the very francophone origins of the “château” name argue differently. “The Americans could create ‘château’ wines from grapes from all over and prices would of course be much lower,” said Gapenne. “The consumer would be buying a ‘château’ wine with the idea of quality that represents our definition” while in fact it doesn’t, he argued.

Numerous premium wineries in the US have already used the château and clos designation in the past. They were allowed to export wines bearing such labels for three years in the wake of a 2006 transatlantic wine agreement, but that loophole closed in 2009.

Names and denominations of origins have often created trade friction, affecting everything from Greek feta cheese to Lebanese hummus. In the 2006 agreement, for example, the EU said it was able to contain the use of such terms such as Champagne and Port in the US.

Any dilution of the typical French winery terms would undermine their standing in the world, said Gapenne.

If the US broke the French hold on the term in Europe, it would set a precedent.

“It would become extremely difficult to stop other producing countries” from using the term, Gapenne’s business said. “The notion would be totally discredited and empty of any meaning.”