“The French are too traditional”. “The French are stuck in the old ways.” These are commonly heard complaints, mainly by folks in the New World, mind you; and, to a degree they are true. If you had a tradition the likes of France you’d want to hang onto it – or at least most of it – as well!
But the French are not stupid. They saw their wine sales dip in favor of competing New World countries and they took action, albeit v e r y s l o w l y. They watched the market, they listened, they took surveys and are now beginning to act. Many of these changes will be appearing on labels shortly and will “correct” what the French and other European winegrowing countries saw were advantages the upstarts had long used. For instance, the French had long maintained that if a label stated a grape variety, it had to be made 100% from that grape (US law says 75%, other New World countries are more or less the same). Recently, that was changed to 85%. Purists may weep but it does allow the French the same wiggle room as the others.
Another recent change involves the recognition of both a strength and a weakness. The strength, according to every survey the French have done, is that the great majority of people the world over who drink wine recognize the name “Bordeaux”. To a lesser but still significant degree they recognize the word “Cote” or “Côtes” as well. The weakness, especially to non-European drinkers, are the many, let us say, unusual or arcane place names the French use on their labels. If you are a history buff you will recognize the name “Castillon” (the final battle of the 100 Years War); but one of the survey results showed a relationship more with Spain than France for that name.
So, the French went with their strength. Starting with the harvest of 2008 you will see a new appellation: Côtes de Bordeaux. This new umbrella appellation covers what were formerly known as the following appellations: Côte de Francs, Côtes de Castillon, Premieres Côtes de Bordeaux and Premieres Côtes de Blaye. These are relatively hilly (Côtes) vineyards between the rivers Garonne and Dordogne. At about 31,000 acres of vineyard land – approximately 10% of the Bordeaux total – it is the size of San Luis Obispo’s vineyard. The wines are dry with the reds made from Merlot and Cabernet while the whites are Sémillon and Sauvignon-based. The wines produced in these areas have never been world beaters, but, especially given the advances in viticultural and enological techniques, they produce some of the most good-value dry red and white wines in the whole region. And unlike some of the more expensive and classic versions of Bordeaux, they are ready to drink at a much earlier date.
But, being traditional, they retained a bit of the past. You will therefore see wines labeled “Francs Côtes de Bordeaux” or “Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux”. If you do it just means that the wine came exclusively from that part of the Côtes de Bordeaux with the more traditional name. Plus ça change…..
http://www.bordeaux-cotes.com
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