Thirsty work
7:00am Saturday 19th July 2008
FANCY a drink? Lucy Corry raises her glass to the week's best buys.
VIVE LA FRANCE!
NEVER mind that Nicolas Sarkozy has a serious case of short man syndrome, loves the music of Johnny Hallyday and has angered his electorate with plans to reform France's bloated civil service. Possibly the most shocking thing about President Bling-Bling is that he doesn't drink.
Considering he rules a country where wine more or less flows out of the tap, it seems unbelievable that Sarko says "Non merci" to France's finest.
Maybe it's symptomatic of revolutionary rumblings in the world's most famous wine producing country.
There has been plenty of Gallic gesticulation over a major shake-up in the French wine world of late as officials try to find ways to improve sales.
The traditional rules governing how and where different wines are made in France are now being relaxed to allow vintners to make and market their products like the competition - the upstart New World wines of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and California.
A new category - Vin De Pays Vignobles De France (VDPVDF) - permits winemakers to blend varietals from the 64 registered winegrowing areas. Under the new system the label will identify the grape variety but not where it is grown - so that bottle of Sancerre-style sauvignon blanc could actually come from Bordeaux.
French winemakers will also be allowed to add wood chips, extra tannin and sweeteners to their products - tricks used to boost production in the New World.
This is even more revolutionary than having a president who marries a supermodel before the ink is dry on his decree absolute but pragmatists believe it is the only way to save the French wine industry.
Anne Blois, sales director of ambitious French label Chamarre, claims most UK drinkers don't care about the particular region that their wine has come from "except if they have been to the Languedoc on their holidays and they think it would be nice to have some Languedoc wine".
"Consumers just want 'a sauvignon blanc from France'," she says.
Blois - like many others - hopes the changes will alleviate the current economic crisis facing French winemakers.
Chamarre already has several wines made under the new system. I've tasted the rose (Grande Reserve Syrah Cinsault Grenache, available from Threshers, £6.99) and, while it wasn't the most amazing rose I've ever tasted, it certainly wasn't the worst.
Purists may be horrified by the changes but there's no point holding on to tradition for tradition's sake.
Two years ago I met a French winemaker who, like his father and grandfather before him, presided over a small acreage of vines in Menetou-Salon, near the Loire Valley.
Monsieur Chavet was a resourceful bloke. With no oven to warm up a plate of cheese pastries he whipped out a heat gun instead - and he'd done a lot to modernise his family's pride and joy. But his polite manner couldn't contain his frustration at being hamstrung by the stringent “appellation d'origine controllee” regulations. Vines had to be a precise distance apart and screwcap closures were completely forbidden.
Domaine Chavet turns out some fabulous wine (available in the UK through www.everywine.co.uk, among other importers). I'd love to know what he thinks of the changes. Vive la difference, perhaps?
DRINK THIS: I'd rather sing La Marseillaise solo than pick just one favourite French wine. Nevertheless, here's a few widely-available choices to enjoy this Bastille Day (July 14): for a taste of Bordeaux without a hefty price tag - Dourthe Barrel Select Bordeaux Rouge 2005 (Tesco, Threshers, £6.99), spicy Chateau Guiot Costieres de Nimes 2006 (£5.99 at Majestic or £5.49 if you buy two), fruity La Difference Viognier Muscat 2007 (£5.25, Tesco) and - for a real treat - Chateau Filhot Sauternes 2003 (around £12.99 for 375ml, available from Threshers, Majestic and House of Fraser).
LIQUID NEWS
Whether you're a French wine fan or not, it makes sense to buy booze in France. If you get too dazzled by French hypermarkets (all that cheese can be pretty distracting), whizz across the Channel to Majestic's wine warehouses in Calais or Cherbourg. Not only will you save on paying duty (currently about £1.70 per bottle) but you can pre-order online (majesticinfrance.co.uk) or on the phone (01923 298 297) and thus maximise the time available to try out your GCSE French. If your pre-order totals more than £400 Majestic will throw in a free ferry day trip crossing with SeaFrance, or a £30 discount towards your travel expenses.
Only in France - last week a winemaker with an eye to a growing market launched Tendre Bulle Gay Vin - a sparkling rose from Languedoc-Roussillon.
Decanter.com reports that the wine's creator, Jacques-Edouard Pailles, wanted to make a rose that would be called the gay wine of Malpierre, one of the local place names, but could not, because of AOC regulations.
"So then I thought it would be fun to make a happy wine, something festive, as in happy which is what gay used to mean in the middle ages," he said.
Tendre Bulle Gay Vin is not yet available in the UK but it would be a just the thing with which to toast the happy couple at a civil partnership ceremony.
I'm just back from a long weekend in Paris, where, along with consuming large quantities of wine (research, of course), I rediscovered an old favourite. Nothing beats sitting at a cafe table drinking a cold Belgian Leffe on a sunny Saturday in Paris. It's currently on special at Sainsbury's (one 750ml bottle is £3.19, or buy two for £5) so I might try recreating the scene at home.