“Real Wine” according to Patrick Mathews, noble wines according to the AIV “
Patrick Mathews, an English author, has written a book entitled “Real Wine”. This fascinating book highlights the true values of terroirs, capable of producing wines of origin, real wines or noble wines according to the convictions of the A.I.V. I will often quote the author. Two weeks ago, I visited for the third time a wonderful estate in South Africa, producing two wines of exemplary purity (chardonnay and pinot noir). The owner, Henry Hamilton Russel, sought out and found a terroir in 1975 that proved exceptional for these two grape varieties. To better protect the terroir, he is preparing to convert the estate to “organic” farming, which is rare there: everything is uncultivated. The label is simply marked WO (Wine of Origin) Walker Bay, the name of the estate, the grape variety and the vintage; that’s all and that’s enough. Bouchard set up shop next door, and others have followed and will follow. It was done in the distant past and it will be done in the future. With a drifting climate, we shouldn’t be surprised by new discoveries of potential terroirs in the future, because it’s the climate that allows the soil to express itself.
Bob Haas, our president, took three years to find the place he was looking for. Our colleague Jos Jensen took two years, but he was sleeping in his Volkswagen, which didn’t help his marriage at all, testing the soil with drops of sulfuric acid to discover the limestone. Europeans have ancestors who did this work long before and for them. Early viticulture came from mixed farming estates where vines were planted on slopes unsuitable for other crops, with a natural drainage effect in poor soil. Later, those wishing to invest in vineyards looked for wide, flat plots, suitable for the operation of modern agricultural machinery. A dry, warm production climate increases yields and reduces the risk of disease. Nobody cared about different soil types: it’s all crap, in the words of a Californian, Bill Jykell, and since often echoed by many Australians.
A CULTURE OF TERROIR – A CULTURE OF WINES OF ORIGIN
So-called indifference to the notion of terroir is not confined to grape growers: hydroponics is the branch of greenhouse agriculture with crops grown on porous, inert soils fed exclusively with chemical solutions. Modern agro-industrial viticulture resembles this kind of hydroponics, with its vines fed by a drip system from underground piping. This approach is not appreciated by environmentalists, who blame the damage done to the world’s soils by modern agricultural techniques. Since then, soil differences and the effects of terroir have been studied and recognized by a growing number of interested parties. Choosing between traditional cultivation, non-cultivation, “lutte raisonnée” and organic and biodynamic cultivation involves a great deal of responsibility on the part of the winegrower.
We’ll never agree, and the matter is further complicated by the introduction of GMOs with crosses between plant and animal origins in the industry-grown yeast sector. It is estimated, according to a leaflet on organic wines, that 75% of the world’s herbicides and almost 50% of its agricultural pesticides are used in vineyards. The article in the Sunday Times in April 1988 on child labor conditions in Chile’s fruit and wine industry: “Children pay the price for cheap Chilean wines”, probably prompted some very large producers to take an interest in organic cultivation.
But how can we protect ourselves from the scourges of disease, fungi, devastating insects, viruses, etc. without making increasing use of chemical, toxic and carcinogenic products? Nicolas Joly, Claude Bourguignon, Anne-Claude Leflaive, Jean-Claude Rateau, Francois Bouchet, Domique Laton, Jacques Lardière, Christine and Nikolaus Saahs (Nikolaihof in Austria), Jean-Gérard and Jacqueline Guillot en Maconnais, Aubert de Villaine, Alan Chadwick, Fetzer Vineyards, Noel Pinguet, John Williams of Frog’s Leap, there are thousands of others, unnamed, who have refused to continue working the old-fashioned way, no longer wanting to see increased doses of chemicals, disgusted by the neutrality of their soils, their terroirs.
They found remedies for these plagues, and took a deep interest in the work of Rudolf Steiner and the calendar of Maria Thun to find an answer and a solution. “The A.O.C. is the fusion of a terroir (soil, climate), one or more plant varieties and a tradition, a human know-how”. I’m reminded of this fine phrase by Mr René RENOU, who is present here, when I see neighboring plots in the same appellation: one worked, ploughed, trimmed, one row grassed with controlled greenery, the other row weeded manually or mechanically with a multicolored soil that you can smell and discover worms, movement, life. The leaves look healthier, greener, more vital. No two vines look alike.
Can we hope and believe that the terroir (soil + climate) will keep its own characteristics by working in this way?
The other shows a concrete surface, with traces of dead, discoloured, asphyxiated, dried-out grass. Numerous treatments against insects, parasites, fungi and rot have taken away the brightness, vitality and greenness of the leaves. l, 2, even 3 successive generations of winegrowers have applied thousands of applications of nitrogen, potash, phosphate, boron, magnesium, copper and sulfur. In a constant effort to protect their vineyards from these plagues, and also to make their work easier, they disinfected their soils before planting clones selected for their productivity, resistance and ability to avoid problems.
Patrick Mathews mentions Michel Bettane’s warning: most Chardonnay clones, with their exaggerated juice production and lack of aroma, are not designed to make great wines but to protect winemakers from harmful threats. Their soil has become inert, neutral, dead, with smells of sulfur and dust reminiscent of chemical cracking plants. A far cry from an environmental guarantee. Finally, when you smell, sniff and “taste” the soils of these two neighboring plots in the same appellation, you notice striking differences.
Patrick Mathews mentions two consecutive speeches by Claude Bourguignon to A.I.V. members, and seminars organized by the A.I.V. board and its Chancellor in particular. Thanks to the A.I.V. symposia, we know a little about the extent and immense value of the Bourguignon’s work, but it’s amusing to read that: “some important landowners solicit the Bourguignon’s because they have discovered that chemical agriculture is simply too expensive”. A convincing example of Bourguignon’s belief that dead soil is more expensive to work: Europe’s arable soils currently require ten times more energy input than they did immediately after the Second World War.
Should we fear that terroir (soil + climate) may lose its own characteristics by working in this way? When mono-type cones are planted in inert terroirs, can we expect to find in the end that famous typicity necessary to the identity of an origin, of a noble wine, of a true wine in the bottle?
The great challenge is to determine the origin and guarantee it; so we naturally turn to legislation on appellations of origin. A.O.C. is above all, or should be, a guarantee of origin with fair, simple, enforceable and controllable legislation to prevent adulteration and to ensure that consumers receive what they believe they have bought. If the A.I.V. wishes to encourage the worldwide application of an A.O.C. system, it must develop a model based on the harmonization and simplification of the various legislations, striking out all measures that have been introduced for commercial or protective and unilateral reasons. The current situation differs from country to country, region to region, appellation to appellation. To illustrate this, I’d like to tell you a little story about Saint-Emilion that I experienced recently: A friend calls me: he’s sitting down to dinner with some hunting friends. They’re tasting and drinking a Saint-Emilion, a Grand Cru Classé, and discussing the phenomenon of classification.
He calls me to explain, because they find it hard to understand that within the Saint-Emilion appellation, they have a choice:
– 2 Premiers Grands Crus Classés A.
– 10 Premiers Grands Crus Classés B once nine, once ten or more.
– A large variable number, currently 54, of Grands Crus Classés, which they believed to be divided into numerical classes (l,2,3,4,5) like the 1855 classification, which is oddly corrected only once, and that for a single wine in 1973.
-Hundreds of Saint-Emilions with the “Grands Crus” label, incorporated into the appellation contrôlée, which they may be one year and not the next.
– Hundreds of Saint-Emilions without the Grand Cru label. And they wonder why Grand Cru is ranked below Premier Cru Classé, because they vaguely remember that in Burgundy Grands Crus are far more expensive and far rarer than Premiers Crus, and that the name Saint-Emilion is borrowed by neighboring communes such as Saint-Georges, Puisseguin, Lussac and Montagne.
How do you explain to them that some of these communes are only 9 kilometers from the town of Saint-Emilion, and that a few steps away, you can also discover excellent, similar wines, but that the appellation has suddenly changed to Côtes de Castillon? Can we simplify without destroying the diversity of this fabulous heritage? The quality and typicality of the products bearing the name of this origin will always be as variable as the talents, convictions, ways of working, financial resources and tastes of the men who have the privilege of working within this delimitation. Guaranteeing origin therefore seems feasible, but guaranteeing quality and typicality seems a very difficult, if not impossible, mission. It’s not for nothing that lovers of fine wines are much more easily persuaded by the glowing notes of journalists/tasters such as Parker, Decanter, Bettane-Dessauve, Tanzer and others.
Côtes de Provence is a single appellation with a multitude of terroirs whose quality ranges from the worst to the best. How can you expect wine lovers with a good palate to trust this Appellation Contrôlée Côtes de Provence? Rioja is a single appellation with three sectors covering 50,732 hectares. Out of 53 appellations d’origine in Spain, it is the only “calificada” appellation in a major wine-producing country. Calificada means important, in the lead, qualified, diploma: only one out of 53, one would wonder about the other 52 …. Under the Rioja appellation, you can find diluted wines, over-boosted wines, honest and respectable wines and very great wines. Such divergence is a long way from guaranteeing quality and typicality. It’s a far cry from consumer protection.
How can we control and guarantee such diversity and disparity?
If we want to control, monitor and guarantee origin and quality, the obvious answer would be to tighten up the rules and restrictions, and impose even more stringent working methods, vineyard maintenance, grape harvesting, grape processing, vinification and storage. In short, complicated, repressive legislation. Indigestible doses of “Brussels”, see the misfortune of cheeses, to be imposed on talented winegrowers, aware and concerned about the value of their terroir, would imply a frustration of their management, an unacceptable limitation of their creative freedom. Measures to compel strays to stay on the straight and narrow, which could force them to produce correctly according to A.O.C. standards, would muzzle the drivers of the appellation’s locomotives.
Should we opt for great freedom, or place radar detectors at each end of the rows of watchmen? Good winegrowers demand simplicity, freedom and feasibility. This will enable him to work serenely with results that, firstly, satisfy him personally, secondly, satisfy the consumer, and thirdly, satisfy the legislator. Quality will protect him, and he will serve the appellation as much as he will benefit from it; it is rather the less good who are saved by the commercial value of the appellation. The bad winemaker, even under complicated and repressive legislation, will either find a way out to make up for his poor quality, or go bankrupt. These are just a few of the questions that could be raised in a debate on the subject.