Trianon-Versailles (see pic) and Trianon St-Emilion…

Dominique HEBRARD, the former co-owner and director of Château Cheval Blanc has recently acquired a new property, Château TRIANON at Saint Emilion. The new owner has notably invested in brand new vats, new wooden casks and also in implementing severe working techniques in the vineyard in order to improve the wine's overall quality. With such an effort, Château TRIANON could well become one of the renowned Saint-Emilion brands in a near future.(Source : l'Amateur de Bordeaux)

Well born 

Château PALMER is the latest high-grade estate to have succumbed at the new trend of producing "second" wines. With the "first" wines often reaching totally insane and inaccessible prices for the average Bordeaux enthusiast, most of the big names now produce less expensive wines issued from younger vines (15 - 20 years old on average). Palmer is now marketing its ALTER-EGO brand since 1998, a wine made of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. Grown during 17 months in wooden casks, this wine is expected to age optimally for some 10 - 15 years before drinking. (Source : l'Amateur de Bordeaux)

Ageing tonic

The reconditioning of old wines is a tolerated practice which many châteaux are however reluctant to acknowledge. The Margaux and Lafite 1900 affair of rejuvenation with wines of much recent vintages confirms the necessity of the establishment of a strict legislation. Put under investigation last March for swindling and forgery, the well known merchant Khaled Rouabah admitted having rejuvenated old wines with bottles of the same wines but of much more recent years. During their enquiry the investigators visited some thirty top châteaux of the Bordeaux region. An especially difficult task as the reconditioning of old bottles is not governed by any regulation. It generally takes place at the request of collectors of wine brokers. The operation consists in the replacement of the cork and in the case of evaporation and in order to restore the initial level by adding wine of the same year - thus sacrificing one bottle - or also by rejuvenation with younger wines presenting comparable characteristics. Besides the said lack of regulations the investigators working on the Rouabah case were confronted to a problem of dating. Further analysis of the wine's radioactive imprints was entrusted to the "Centre of Nuclear Studies" in Bordeaux. Their conclusion is: "It is of course possible to date a wine within a bracket of a few years but it is actually impossible to accurately assess the amount of "young wine" which might have been added. The analysis performed on the samples of Margaux 1900 and Lafite 1900 in question show however that the same liquid was poured in each of the bottles but the exact kind and origin of the wine nevertheless remains to be remains to be ascertained! (Source : afp)

The French wine exports have suffered in 2001 

Recent figures have revealed that international sales of French wines and spirit totalising 7 billion Euro have fallen 2.1% from the 2000 numbers amid global economic uncertainty and increasing pressure from the wines of the New World. 

France is still the world's leading winemaker with a 40% market share but is faced with the increasing competition of the New World's products. France's flagship region, Bordeaux lost 3.6%! Another good reason to continue to improve the wine's overall quality and to keep the prices of the 2001 vintage at affordable levels. (Source : Just-drinks.com - Chris Brook-Carter)

 TOP

Semantic battle

René RENOU, National President of the French Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO) is firmly opposed to the fact of mentioning any grape variety on French wine labels. According to his words, "the world will very soon be flooded with varietally-labelled wines and the only way to compete will be to rely on the unique brand proposition that is terroir - the unique interaction of soil, climate and topography that is impossible to reproduce. There are thousands of Chardonnays but there is only one wine from Bonnezeaux. If you need to mention variety, it means you don't understand terroir". Answering to questions asked by journalists at a press conference in London he simply concluded by saying that wine was an element of the French soul. "The New World is finding answers to its own problems. Culturally and philosophically we are putting another choice forward". (Source: Decanter). 

But shouldn't the French producers start by simplifying some of their labels, which continue to be so opaque to numerous French wine lovers across the world?

Genetically modified wines

You are wrong to think that wine is solely produced from fermented grapes. The Danish company Novozymes who is the world's largest producer of enzymes declares that half of the French wines are at present boosted with laboratory enzymes. Enzymes are proteins, which accelerate or block up biochemical reactions. They can be artificially raised with the help of the genetics. At the time of vinification the various possible utilisations are really giving vertigo. Some enzymes can help with the extraction of the colour of the grapes. Others do reduce the coat of yeast by liberating more aromatic composites of even clarify the wine in a record of time. For a better spread of their products Novozymes have joined force with the Lamothe Abiet Pinoza (LAP) store in Bordeaux. These enzymes products are freely sold to wine growers. Citing Novozymes, many of them now claim that it becomes almost impossible to manage the wine's growth without enzymes. Enzymes can ensure a more elegant wine and can also potentially increase the wine's quality in a mediocre vintage. They claim, "even the best wine of the world can be improved!"(Source : Vinum). 

New methods?

Jean-Louis DESPAGNE is the owner of several wine-estates in the Entre-Deux-Mers region between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. He is trying for the first time new experimental methods on some of his wines by testing the fermentation process directly in wooden casks and not in metallic vats as usually implemented in the classic way. The barrels lay on a rotating structure enabling a better mixing of the must. With his method Mr Despagne hopes to obtain a Merlot wine with particularly delicate tannins (Source : Vinum)

  Back to Studies, Articles, Wine Chemistry, Archives page

 TOP