[Posted and mailed]

It is often suggested that French wine would sell better and be much
more easily understood if the labels of AoC wines bore a reference to
their constituent varietals. The French say that this ignores the
over-riding importance of terroir. I have always thought the latter
view to be right. To say that a St. Emilion is merlot, bouchet and
cabernet sauvignon is only a tiny, tiny, part of the story — take the
Corbin and Figeac groups, close as they are geographically, without
even considering the differnce between those wines and those of the
low lying vineyards around St. Sulpice & St. Pey. That could be said
to be explained by the relative importance of the proportions of each
and of the wine maker‘s influence although I would still argue when
you look at those who have different chateaux in different places that
terroir is vitally important. Look at the difference between the
Nieppberg chateaux or Ch.Chante Alouette Cormeille and Ch. Gueyrosse
for example.

The reality of the argument has perhaps to be tested with unblended
wines and this was brought home to me last week in a tasting of over
30 different Burgundies. It might be thought that more useful
information, and greater consistency, would be derived from a wine
label which showed only one cépage to have been used so that it was
possible to have the attachment of a single, pure, unblended, varietal
label, in Burgundy, of either Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. However
tasting three different climats of Dom. Coste-Caumartin‘s wonderful
Premier Cru Pommards, both vertically and horizontally, though several
vintages, was a clear demonstration, yet again, of the immense
difference that a few hundred yards can and does make, even when the
same winemaker is responsible for each of the wines under
consideration. Why do apparently knowledgeable people continue to
press for varietal labelling which may be appropriate for nations or
areas producing one or two dimensional wines or those blended from
many hundreds of acres but which would deny the subtlety and interst
of the great wines of France? Can somebody please enlighten me?

Tim Hartley