French winemakers are taking advantage of excellent climates, lower costs and more freedom to experiment in their ventures abroad.
QUIZ QUESTION:how much New World wine is sold in French supermarkets? Answer: less than 1 per cent (in Ireland it's 70 per cent). It can be hard to find much wine from outside the local area in France, especially in restaurants. This rather parochial view of what the wine world has to offer is not shared, however, by some progressive French companies, who see boundless opportunities on the other side of the world.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild was probably the first Frenchman to saddle his horse and go west – to Napa Valley. Since his joint venture with Robert Mondavi in 1979, which made Opus One a cult wine in California, many producers have established winemaking businesses in different parts of the world – Spain, Portugal, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and South Africa. One brave soul, Bernard Magrez, has even started making wine in Japan.
Why do they leave the familiar territory of France, where traditions and skills have been nurtured over centuries, to make wine in a foreign country, with a different language, little (or no) wine tradition and untested terroir? There are three main reasons: excellent climate, lower costs, and freedom of choice in making wine. New export markets also help to compensate for the shrinking French wine market, where consumption has fallen from 73 litres per head to 54 between 1990 and 2004.
South America is a particularly attractive option because of its climate, which is sunny, warm and dry – ideal conditions for growing grapes, with little rot or mildew. Labour is cheap and plentiful, unlike France, where it gets harder each year to find grape pickers. An added advantage in the southern hemisphere is that the harvest falls six months after the European harvest, so winemakers can work on two harvests a year.
Unlike France, where Appellation Contrôlée (AC) restrictions are many and various, allowing only certain grape varieties, for example, the winemaker can plant whatever he or she likes to produce the best wine. Producers can experiment with different grape blends, irrigate their vines, and pick their own harvest date, none of which is allowed at home.
Early pioneers to South America were brothers Jacques and François Lurton, who set up Araucano in Chile in 1988 and expanded into Argentina in 1997 with Bodega Lurton. François Lurton considers Chile “a paradise for vines – almost disease free. In Argentina, we found a marvellous country with a long wine history. They had very old vines planted on good terroirs.” Lurton thinks that his wines show their French pedigree “in their freshness and elegance”.
J F Lurton, one of the most adventurous French companies, also make wine in Portugal and Spain. Though accustomed to making wine outside France, they were taken aback by how different Argentine viticulture was. Irrigation was absolutely essential and the vines, though the same varieties as those in France, behaved differently, being different clones.
Araucano and Bodega Lurton produce a big range of value-for-money wines in both countries, using the familiar New World varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, but they also produce two interesting Argentine whites, a floral Torrontés and a tasty Pinot Gris, Bodega Lurton Pinot Gris.
Hard on the Lurtons’ heels was William Fèvre, a Chablis vigneron, who sold his domaine in France to Henriot and set up a joint venture in 1992 with the Pino family in Chile’s Maipo Valley. A well-known Chablis producer, he had become increasingly frustrated by the restrictions imposed on him by the AC rules. He was also impressed by the quality of fruit that could be grown in Chile. His elegant Carmenères are widely admired and he uses his hands-on experience of making Chablis from Chardonnay to good effect. Try the Gran Cuvée Chardonnay William Fèvre 2007.
IT HELPS TO have a bit of cash if you’re setting up shop on the other side of the world. This wasn’t a problem for the Marnier Lapostolle family, owners of Grand Marnier and Château de Sancerre, who formed Casa Lapostolle in 1994 with an investment of $25 million. They were attracted by old, ungrafted vines in the Apalta vineyard in Colchagua Valley, vines that were imported from France in the 19th century. Chile is one of the few parts of the world where wine can be made from ungrafted wines, since it is free from the insect pest phylloxera. In most other places, vines have to be grafted on to American vine rootstocks.
Consultant to Casa Lapostolle is French wine guru Michel Rolland, who makes wines in the warm, fully ripe style favoured by Robert Parker, the vastly influential American wine critic. Rolland has been criticised for producing standardised, overripe wines to a global (think American) taste, with little connection to the treasured French notion of terroir. His hand is evident in the powerful, full-blooded style of the wines. Clos Apalta is the flagship wine, but for value and flavour the Cuvée Alexandre range is excellent. The Merlot is delicious.
After Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s death in 1988, his daughter, Baroness Philippine, went into partnership with Chile’s largest wine producer, Concha y Toro, to make Almaviva, a premium wine aimed at the very top of the market. Vinified by a French winemaker, it’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Carmenère. The baroness continued her conquest of Chile by establishing Baron Philippe de Rothschild Maipo Chile in 2003, with the regulation state-of-the art winery. Their flagship wine is called Escudo Rojo (Spanish for “rote Schild/red shield”, the origin of the family name). Escudo Rojo is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Carmenère and Syrah – an uncommon blend but one that works very well.
The French love affair with South America continued with the arrival in Argentina of some prominent French investors in 2003. Clos de los Siete is headed by Michel Rolland (also consultant to Casa Lapostolle in Chile). The group, which includes three owners of Bordeaux châteaux, has invested $50 million in 840 hectacres in the Mendoza region. With its high Parker points, Clos de los Siete has been very successful. It’s a textbook New World wine, unashamedly full of fruit, ripe and succulent – and very good value. Argentina’s star variety, Malbec, makes up 50 per cent of the blend, supplemented by Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
For the South Americans, French investment is a win–win situation. The winemaking and viticulture teams benefit from centuries of French know-how, which raises the game for everyone, especially in undeveloped areas. As vines mature and producers begin to understand what works best in their adopted land, quality levels in South American wines will improve across the board.
Will we see the reverse happening – South Americans investing in France? Already the Japanese Suntory group has invested in three Bordeaux châteaux, the Chinese company Longhai International has bought Château Latour-Laguens in Entre-Deux-Mers, and the south of France has seen huge growth in the number of foreign wine producers. Vineyard prices are falling in some parts of France, especially the south, which could tempt a brave winemaker to leave the sunny climes of Chile or Argentina to make wine. Global cross-fertilisation, competition and mingling of skills and ideas raise quality levels all round. It’s all good news for consumers.