SEVE communiqué

For several years now, consumers organizations and the press have alerted the public to the degradation of appellation (AOC) wines in France. Let us recall that in December 1995 consumer magazine UFC Que Choisir published an enquiry (Vins français, la qualité en peril = French wine, quality endangered) questioning in a well argued article the quality of wines and the authenticity of the claims of French AOCs. We also recall that Alain Berger, at the time director of INAO, declared in this article that “one can find on the market today some horrible products marked with the AOC label… AOC wines today represent half of the French production by volume. It is too much, we must stop this now”.

Finally we recall that the winemaker’s unions at that time arrogantly and violently attacked Que Choisir, and managed to get Alain Berger fired.

In its announcement on September 3rd, 2007, UFC Que Choisir asks the same question again, 12 years later: for wine consumers, is the AOC label reliable? Sève, an association of winemakers founded in order to obtain a radical reform of the appellation system, agrees with the answer given by UFC Que Choisir: No! Because “the loss of credibility of the AOCs is explained also by the coexistence within the appellations of two types of wine with very different quality-price ratios, and which must now be officially separated: on the one hand, wines that have a strong link to terroir that respect the original definition of AOC, on the other hand wines with less character that correspond to a new market demand, and that should develop outside of the appellation system. By distinguishing these two categories with distinct labels, we can satisfy the double requirement of making consumer choices clearer while safeguarding the AOC heritage.” (UFC Que Choisir)

The reliability of the figures quoted by Que Choisir in support of its affirmations may be debatable; but in fact nobody can provide precise or reliable figures. The fact is that the analysis given is essentially accurate; it merely restates the facts that everyone in the world of wine knows already, but has tried to avoid facing for 30 years. The analysis of Que Choisir also echoes the vote of the National Committee of INAO on June 2nd 2006, under the presidency of René Renou.

Beyond the important questions about the status and the competence of the new ODGs (Organismes de Défence et Gestion) that manage the appellations locally, UFC Que Choisir puts its finger right at the heart of the question of reforms: it is a matter of segmenting the French wine offering in a way that is readable to consumers, and of allowing the rewriting of the specifications for the terroir wine segment in accordance with the original definition of AOC.

Twelve years later, the reaction by the professional organizations to the consumer point of view is certainly more measured, which proves that the AOC scandal is now difficult to deny. We deplore the refusal by certain organizations, such as the CNAOC (National Confederation of AOCs), to face the problem. In a communiqué the CNAOC, while declaring itself “aware of the interest of UFC in the AOC reform”, merely states that it shall ensure that “each bottle of AOC wine meets its standards”, without ever facing the question raised by UFC: the rewriting of the rules for AOCs that claim a link to terroir. We are even seeing the refusal by certain organizations to implement the necessary segmentation of AOCs.

For all these reasons, SEVE is convinced that the voice of consumers, of the press, of the distributors, is indispensable to break the corporatist attitude dominating the French wine profession and, therefore, paralyzing it.

SEVE, September 10, 2007

To read more about SEVE’s analysis of this question, see:
The AOC reform will fail if the French wine appellation system refuses to redefine its market segments Marc Parcé
Assessing French appellations: do AOCs today bear any relation to what their creators imagined?
Freeing the taste of AOC wines from the shackles of “organoleptic profiling”

Contact : Marc Parcé +33-680017576 Patrick Baudouin +33-607689732
SEVE – Château Gombaude-Guillot 4 chemin des Grands’Vignes – 33500 Pomerol