The Southeby’s Wine Encyclopedia
Vin de Pays
This category of wine includes some of the most innouative and exciting wines being produced in the wold today,yet mostof the 153 vin de pays denominations are superfluous and confusing.The success of the vin de pays system lies not in creating more appellations,but in freeing producers from them,which allows the most talented individuals to carve out their own reputations.
Vins DE PAYS,OR “COUNTRY WINES,” aresupposed to be unpretentious but many are better than average-quality AOC wines and the best rank as some of the finest wines that France can produce.This was never the intention;a vin de pays was merely meant to be a quaffing wine that should display,in a very rudimentary sense,the broadest characteristics of its region’s greates wines.Howevery,because of this modest aim,vin de pays had fewer restrictions than higher appellations.This encouraged the more creative winemakers to produce wines that best expressed their terroir without being hampered by an overregulated AOC system and,in so doing,they mamaged to equal and occasionally surpass the quality of the more famous local appellations.As news of these exciting vins de pays hit the headlines of the international wine press,so the thought of shedding the shackles AOC restrictions attracted a new generation of winemakers,including anumber of Australians.The combination of French and foreign winemakers opened up the vin de pays system,turning it into something its creators had never imagined.
COUNTRY ORIGINS
The expression “Vin de Pays” first appeared in the statute books in a decree dated February 8,1930.The law in question merely allowed wines to refer to their canton of origin provided they attained a certain alcoholic degree;for example “Vin de Pays de Canton X”,These cantons were not controlled appellations as such:there was no way of enforcing minimum standard of quality,and the relatively small amounts of these so-calld vins de pays were often the product of inferior hybrid grapes.It was not until 1973 that the concept was officially born of vins de pays that were a superior breed of vins de table,originating from a defined area and subject to strict controls.By 1976,a total of 75 vins de pays had been established,but all the formalities were not worked out until 1979,and between 1981 and 1982 every single existing vin de pays was redefined and another 20 created.Currently there are 153,although the number fluctuates as vins de pays are upgraded to VDQS,when new vins de pays are created,or,as has happened recently,when some départements are denied the right to produce a vin de pays (see Vins de Pays at a Glance,p.250).
Officially,a vin de pays is a vin de table from a specified area that conforms to quality-control laws that are very similar to those regulating AOC and VDQS wines,although obviously not quite as strict.Vin de pays came of age in 1989,prior to which all such wines had to carry the additional descriptor Vin de Table Francais or Vin de Table de France.From time to time,vins de pays are upgraded to VDQS,which itself has become a staging post for AOC status.The last vin de pays to be promoted was Coteaux du Quercy,in 1999,which is now a VDQS,and others are expected to follow.
VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE FOR VIN DE PAYS
While the universally recognized great wines produced in the most famous regions of France remain,very much,in a cozy market of their own,their volume in global terms is minute,and the average-quality AOC wines have been losing the export battle against the New World, particularly “Brand Australia .” It was left to the up-and-coming vins de pays to fight a rear-guard action,while the AOC regions sort out their problems of perennial mediocrity (if indeed they can).However,even with fewer restrictions than AOCs,vins de pays have had to fight with one hand behind their back.The first and most important disadvantage was that vins de pays were marketing wines under names such as Coteaux du Littoral Audois or Comté Tolosan,while the opposition was simply selling Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon.while the varietal concept might cause a “sense of place“ crisis for the New World’s finer wines,when they try to ride the export surf into Europe,it matters not one bit in the US,and the vins de pays are not up against such wines.At the price point of most vins de pays and their New World opponents,the appellation per se is irrelevant.All resders of this encyclopedia will drink such wines,and delight in searching out those that are the best and most interesting,but the vast majority of consumers do not know or even care about appellations.They see chardonnayon two or three bottles,and grab one.Why? Probably because they have had it before,and it was okay,or for no other reason than the label looks nicer than the others-but the reason is immaterial.What is important is that in making their choice,they-that is,the vast majority-have gone straight past the Coteaux du Littoral Audois et al.
This is the old story of customers proclaiming,”I don’t want Chablis,I want Chardonnay,”and the French authorities have agonized about how to get around the problem.The French being French could not bring themselves to allow vins de pays to be sold as pure varietal wines.Instead,in 1996,they tried to divert consumer attention from single-varietal names with the twin-varietal concept,enabling producers to market eines as Cabernet-Merlot,Chardonnay-s’emillon,and so on.Although some very good wines were producers ,the idea never really took off.It is fine in a New World country,where the varietal wine concept is all,and a twin-varietal is simply seen as a logical move,but for the vins de pays it was like learning to run before they could walk.
The French realized this,and in 2000 issued wide-sweeping decrees authorizing varietal wines for almost all vins de pays.It was still an unfair fight because the regulations insisted that such wines be made from 100 percent of the varitety indicated ,whereas New World imports merely had to comply with the European Union minimum of 85 percent.At the price point of most vins de pays and New World varietals,the flexibility to strengthen or soften a variety to one degree or another in a given year is a major advantage.Another advantang the opposition had was to use oak chips.It is one thing to expect a cru class’e chateau to use casks rather than chips (although I cannot see why it actually has to be illegal),but it is impossible for vins de pays to compete at the same price as the New World wins if the French hav to use oak casks or nothing.With casks,they cannot even get the wine on the shelf at the same time,let alone the same price.Fortunately,Herv’e Gaymard,the French Minister of Agriculture,finally agreed that it was unfair,and in July 2004 authorized producers to use oak chips and to blend up to 15 percent of another variety and vintage into a single-varietal vin de pays.
VIN DE PAYS DES CEPAGES DE FRANCE
At the same meeting,one thing that Gaymard refused to authorize was the proposed vin de pays des cepages de French.The faction proposing this have only themselves to blam.Cross-regional blending is a good idea;the error was simplyin the naming of the vin de pays,which doomed it to failure from for the start.Those who objected in principle to cross-regional blending,including a number of UK shippers,claimed that it would “almost certainly become a dumping ground,especiallyin the current climate of oversupply.” That was part of the attraction,form my viewpoint .How else do the classic AOC regions raise the quality of their most basic wines without some form of selection,i.e. dumping,of lesser quality wines? Furthermore,wines might be “dumped” by Bordeaux for different,sometimes opposite,reasons from the Rhone or Roussillon,and blending the two,toghther with wines form nonclassic areas,could produce something superior to its individual parts.And even when it does not,the shippers have nothing to fear because no one is making them buy the wines.
Where the cross-regional vin de pays des Cepages de France,sourcing the wine from anywhere in French,and expecting European Union legislation to be modified to allow this through.All they had to do was to draw a line from Vannes on the west coast to Roubaix on the Belgian border,name the wine de pays des Cepages de Sud-Est France(deliberate shades of southeastern Australia),and it would have been passed without anyone blinking an eye.
VINS DE PAYS AT A GLANCE
153VIN DE PAYS DENOMINATIONS IN TOTAL
Or 167 if the subregional and subzonal uins de pays are included. From virtually zero production in 1973 to an annual average of almost 166 million caese (15million hectoliters),uins de pays now represent over 30 pecent of the total French wine production,and this expansion is continuing.
TYPES OF VINS DE PAYS
There are three basic categories of uins de pays: regional,departementale,and zonal. Although no official quality differences exist between these, it is not an unreasonable assumption that the zonal uins de pays may sometimes show more individual character than the much larger uins de pays departementaux or all-encompassing regionaluins de pays,but thisis not always so.
A grower within a specific zone may find it easier to sell wine under a more generic vin de pays,which explains why so many individual wines are to be found under the vast Vin de pays d’Oc denomination.Also,the geographical size of a vin de pays can be deceptive,with many departments producing relatively little wine compared with some more prolific,relatively minute,zonal vins de pays.In the Loire few producers bother with the departementale denominations.
REGIONAL VINS DE PAYS (45 percent of total vin de pays output)
There are five of these wide-ranging appellations:Comte Tolosan;Comtes Rhodaniens;Jardin de la France (which includes a further two subregional denominations);Oc;and Portes de Mediterranee.Each encompasses two or more departments.They represented only 12 percent of vin de pays production in 1990,yet Vin de pays d’Oc alone accounts for 26 percent today.
DEPARTEMENTALE VINS DE PAYS (28 percent of total vin de pays output)
These cover entire departments,and although 52 are officially in use,some are effectively redundant as producers have opted for one of the more widely supported regional appellations,which are often easier to promote.In theory every department in France can claim a vin de pays under its own departementale denomination,but to avoid confusion with AOC wines the following were in 1995 expressly forbidden form exercising this right:the Marne and Aube(in Champagne),the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin (in Alsace),the Cote-d’Or (in Burgundy),and the Rhone (which encompasses Beaujolais but is likely to cause confusion with the Cotes du Rhone AOC).Jura,Savoie,and Haut-Savoie have also been disenfranchised.
ZONAL VINS DE PAYS (27 percent of total vin de pays production)
There are now 96 zonal vins de pays,plus 12 subzonal denominations,although many of the former and some of the latter are seldom encountered.
VINS DE CEPAGE
After awidespread authorization of pure varietal vins de pays in 2000,regulations for which lagged well behind the actual production,this category has taken off to such an extent that it now accounts for half of all the vins de pays produced each year,with 80 percent sold under one of five regional vins de pays,of which 70 percent is Vin de Pays d’Oc.
VINS DE PAYS PRIMEUR
Since 1990,all vin de pays denominations have been permitted to produce these wines,which may be marketed from the third Thursday of October following the harvest (much earlier than Beaujolais Nouveau).The regulations allow for red and white wines to be made as vins primeurs,but strangely not rose,although by the very nature of their production many reds are lighter than some roses,so it is a somewhat moot point.White wines are vinified by cool-fermentation techniques and red wines by one of three methods:maceration carbonique (see Glossary),part-maceration carbonique (some of the grapes are crushed and mixed with the whole bunches),and “short-classic” (traditional vinification with minimum skin contact).Cool-fermented whites and maceration carbonique reds are dominated by amylic aromas (pear drops,banana,nail polish).”short-classic”rarely provides enough fruit,depth,or color ,whereas part-maceration carbonique can be very successful in enhancing the fruitiness of a wine without drowning it in amylic aromas,but it has to be expertly applied.
HERAULT
Departementale vin de pays Map B
Red wine accounts for 85 percent of production and is increasing.The choice of grapes is quite wide,but most blends are based on Carignan,Cinsault,Grenache,and Syrah,boosted by a small proportion of bordelaise varieties.About 10 percent rose and 5percent white wine is produced,the latter made from Clairette,Macabeo,Grenache Blanc,and Ugni Blanc.Production is vast,over 11 million cases (one million hectoliters),makingit the second or third largest vin de pays,together with Vin de Pays de l’Aude.Improved viticultural and vinicultural techniques have transformed what was once the heart of Midi mediocrity into delicious,brilliant-value wine in some cases.Pure varietal wines have been allowed since 2000.
The most famous wine bearing this modest vin de pays denomination is,of course,Mas de Daumas Gassac.Situated northwest of Montpellier at Aniane,this property has been dubbed “the Latfite of the Languedoc,” but when Aime and Veronique Guibert purchased it,wine was the last thing on their minds.That was,however,before the visit of Professor Enjalbert,the Bordeaux geologist and author,who discovered Daumas Gassac had a rare,fine,powdery volcanic soil that is an incredible 65 feet (20 meters) deep.Enjalbert predicted that it would yield a world-class wine if cultivated as a grand cru,and that is exactly what Aime Guibert set out to do.I am not convinced about the rose,and the white has been far to flabby in recent vintages,but the red is the equivalent of a Bordeaux cru classe.Even in lighter vintages,when Guibert gets slated by the critics,I think his red has rare elegance that is missed just because it is not as big as people expect.
Mas de Daumas Gassac (rouge) •de la Fadeze •C. V. Frontignan (Abeillon) • La Grange des Peres •Mas de Janiny (Cabernet Sauvignon) •Les Quatre Pilas (Mouchere)
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