Emery Davis wrote:
> Too right. Or sometimes vin de pays can be a revelation... especially considering
> the what the AOC strictures force on the growers.
Yup. One of my favorite VdPs is VdP des Collines Rhodanniennes, which
produces some really lovely QPR Syrah (and, increasingly, Viognier) from
the benchlands above Cote Rotie/Condrieu. It seems to serve a purpose
much like Vino di Tavola served in Italy for all those producers who
want to break with AOC/DOC regulations. In this case, it seems to
mostly embrace those producers who find good terroir lying outside of
established AOC boundaries.
>
> I was told by a CdR producer on this last trip that they are not yet able
> to bottle a certain 2006 villages wine, because the syndicat is requiring
> more time so that less successful growers can move the 05. So my
> guy can't sell his 06 villages, but he's got no 05 villages left to sell. Basically
> he's being told he can't sell his product. The "solution" is to bottle some
> now as Vin de Pays; this he can sell at a somewhat lesser price, but
> at least keep the bills paid. The rest, _the exact same wine_, will be
> bottled later as more expensive CdR villages.
Ridiculous, but hardly a surprise.
> This could be. But big quantity discounts are pretty high, and a lot of
> the CdP folks are desperate to get into the US market. They may not
> know much about Costco anyway, but I'd guess they're hoping to
> leverage some name recognition later on. There are a boat load of
> CdP producers, as you know.
>
> Chateauneuf has become a lot like the Bordelais, there is really an "us
> and them" culture. Those who have successfully entered the foreign
> markets are doing really well, everybody else is just scraping along.
Well, the weird thing here is that they already had/have an importer, so
the decision to go with Costco couldn't just be to break into the US
market, nor would it seem very plausible that Costco was paying them
more than their other importer.
Mark Lipton
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