Sacre Bleu! With global blends there’s no terroir! The French are outraged and the interlopers are spreading with Australian help.
The BBC reports that a distinguished French winemaker is the traitor behind this latest scandale whose conduct offends national propriety and morality.
Winemaker Maxime Chapoutier admits he would be arrested if he tried to sell two of his newest wines in his native France. His blends on sale at the UK’s Wine Society are a mixture of French and Australian.
As the BBC noted:
Under both French and European Union law it is forbidden to make a wine that combines EU and non-EU fruit. In France in particular, authorities take such things very seriously.The French wine industry has a celebrated word called “terroir”, which applies to all the environmental factors that affect vines growing in a vineyard, such the soil, the climate, and the elevation. As a result, wines from a specific place are held in the highest esteem.Add a strict appellation or classification system for France’s wine regions, and the thought of blending French and Australian wine to create a global hybrid would horrify many French wine lovers.
Maxime Chapoutier’s global white is a blend of marsanne and viognier from the Rhône Valley and the state of Victoria.
The red combines Shiraz from the two countries.
Both wines are bottled for the Wine Society in the United Kingdom.
While it’s Chapoutier’s French connection that has created this controversy, Australia’s Penfolds released multi-national blends several years ago.
