What Happens When You Can No Longer Trust the Most Powerful People in Wine

This was hard to write

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Sometimes the worst people have all the power.

In wine, the people with the most power aren’t wine critics, wholesalers, or even social media wine influencers.

It’s another group whose power is seldom talked about.

Governing wine authorities.

These bodies come under many names from the Appellation d’origine contrôlée in Frence to the Denominaciones de Origen Protegidas in Spain. They may have their roots in Europe but nowadays, pretty much every wine region in the world has a governing authority of some kind.

They are supposed to protect the quality of their region’s wines by bestowing protected status on wines that pass a set of rules.

Names like Rioja, Barolo, Chianti, Gevrey-Chambertin — and thousands of other regions — all have protected status. Winemakers can only label their wines as such if they adhere to these rules.

As a winemaker, getting a famous local wine region on your label can make or break your wine because wine drinkers trust these names.

But after 11+ years in the wine trade and talking to hundreds of winemakers — including specifically interviewing some anonymously — one big problem comes up time and again.

The system is broken.

As one winemaker told me, these bodies have arguably the most power in wine but you can’t trust them to do a good job or to protect the interests of the best and most innovative wineries of their region.

So how do you know what to buy anymore?

You don’t.

And that my friends is a massive problem.

Best intentions gone rogue

Most appellation systems were established with good intentions. Many of them were designed to reduce fraud and to protect and showcase the quality and authenticity of a particular region.

This is achieved through defining a set of specifications for every wine that bears a protected geographical name.

Rules that include:

• Geographical region — grapes must come from an area defined by the authority.

• Permitted grape varieties.

• Ageing vessels and lengths. For instance, Barolo must be aged for a minimum of three years, two of which must be in oak barrels.

• Minimum and maximum alcohol levels.

Many appellations also insist that every wine goes through a taste test which determines if it is representative enough of the region to be labelled as such.

If they say no, the wine will be declassified.

Declassification can be a problem for winemakers because the wine can only be labelled with its country of origin, not the region.

A wine could be from one of the most prestigious French wine regions but all it will say on the label is Vin de France.

In other words, appellations have the power to make or break wines.

And from what winemakers have told me, these authorities are getting in their own way with their strict, often outdated rules that exclude some of the most exciting, interesting winemakers out there, whilst simultaneously promoting dull, “tick-box” wines.

As

Simon J Woolf

noted in the magazine Noble Rot:

Wine lovers now face a strange duality. The budget booze in supermarkets flaunts a fancy regional name on the label whilst the cutting-edge wine in a specialist shop is forbidden to give any clue as to its region, village, grape variety or even vintage.

Why does this happen? There are a few reasons but a big one is the root of almost everything nowadays.

Money.

As a winemaker told me during our interview the other day, his appellation charges by the bottle for their regional name. So it’s not in their interest to declassify the big wineries producing millions of bottles a year. But they can go after the little guys who don’t adhere to their ideas of what wine from the region should be like.

Couple that with a subjective tasting panel (or on-the-ground inspectors) — who, from what winemakers tell me, are a breeding ground for inexperienced or stuck-in-their-ways employees who aren’t exposed to great or innovative winemaking — and you’ve got a big problem on your hands.

This is doubly frustrating when it unfairly penalises winemakers who, on wider markets, are revered to the point of having a cult-like following.

Their wines might command years-long waiting lists in the likes of the UK, US or Japan but at home, they are stuck waiting for approval that might never come.

All of that affects you because it’s an erosion of trust. You can no longer trust the best wine to come from appellation-approved bottlings.

Because some quality winemakers are taking matters into their own hands.

Fighting the system one declassification at a time

Faced with an unwinnable battle against their local wine authorities, hundreds of winemakers declassify their wines so they can have more freedom in what they make.

Wines labeled as Vin de France or Spain’s Vinos de la Tierra could be where you find some of the best wines you’ve ever drunk because the winemaker is free to make the wine they want, not what their wine region dictates.

This became a big trend with the rise of natural and low-intervention wines whose styles were often at odds with what wine authorities believed their region’s wines should taste like.

But it’s not just the natualistas. Some of the most sought-after classic wines in the world are also declassified.

Take Didier Dageneau’s Silex which may be grown in Pouilly-Fumé but is declassified as a Vin Pays de Loire. Yet despite its less-than-stellar classification, it still sells for north of $200 a bottle.

Then there’s the story of the suitably named French red wine, You Fuck My Wine.

This wine is made within the bounds of the Cahors appellation in Western France. The appellation told winemaker Fabien Jouves he would never be allowed to put Cahors on the label because the wine is predominantly made from a forbidden grape variety, Jurançon Noir.

It doesn’t matter that Jurançon Noir used to be the main variety grown in Cahors, nowadays unless you’re wine contains at least 70% Malbec, it’s not allowed to bear the Cahors name on the label.

Then there’s another route winemakers use to get their wines approved which, at best, you could call getting creative.

I’ve heard of winemakers submitting their tasting panel a completely different sample from what it says on the label because they know it is more likely to get approval.

I’ve heard of others who carefully skim a sample from the top of their unfiltered wine tank where they know the wine is least hazy (many regions dictate that wine should be crystal clear whilst some producers disagree).

I understand why a winemaker would do this. They are doing what they have to do to survive in a system that isn’t set up to help them.

None of this makes it easy on you as a wine drinker because these regional names should be anchors to help you navigate the often very confusing world of wine.

Yet here I am telling you that quite often, they don’t mean jack.

Sorry about that.

But — there is always a but — there is a way out of this mess. It comes down to one of my biggest pieces of wine advice:

Be married to the winemaker, not the label

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The most important factor in wine is the producer.

Be married to them and what they do, not what their label says.

I will buy any bottle the You Fuck My Wine winemaker makes under any classification because I trust him. That’s more than I can say for his region, Cahors AOP — I’ve tried some shocking wines that bear that appellation name.

The same goes for pretty much every other wine name in the world from Barolo to Bordeaux.

Wine authorities may sometimes take their eye off the ball, but quality winemakers haven’t.

The cry of the quality winemaker is always authenticity. They will always tell you they want to make wine that accurately reflects where it comes from and honours local winemaking methods.

They are the true reflectors of their wine regions. Even if their local wine authorities disagree.

Find the right winemakers (I can help with that) and you will no longer care what wine region is on the label.

You’ll only care about the juice inside the bottle.

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It’s desperately sad when the systems designed to help end up a powerful hindrance.

But when it comes to wine, this is where we are.

I’m not saying every wine appellation is stuck in the dark ages just as much as I’m not saying all amazing wine is declassified. Wine is far more complicated than that.

Which is why I do what I do and I write what I write. I’m tired of wine drinkers not having the information they deserve.

And you deserve to drink the best wine you can, regardless of what region it says on the label.

Accept nothing less.

Now if you’ll excuse me, one of my favourite Beaujolais — sorry, Vin de France — is winking at me. I’m off to enjoy it.

Regardless of its classification.