The Review - FOOD & DRINK- The Wine Press with DON & JOHN Published: 8 November 2007
Photographs courtesy of Syndicat de Côteaux due Languedoc – www.coteaux-languedoc.com
Fruits of Languedoc – the ‘other France’
Languedoc is the largest of France’s 11 wine regions but traditionally does not enjoy a good reputation. Over the next few weeks, the Wine Press will ask whether this is where France has its best chance of meeting New World competition. This week we look at what is different about the region and why its image is so poor
THE staggering amount of wine produced in Languedoc – three times that of Bordeaux – and the region’s inability to shake off its poor image indicates not simply a problem for the region’s own winemakers, but a crucial flaw in the structure of France’s wine industry, accounting for 20 per cent of total agricultural production.
Worse still, Languedoc’s regional economy is more heavily dependent on wine, its winemakers are poorer and much of its land unsuitable for other forms of agriculture.
In considering the region’s identity, we’re dealing with the “other France”, an old concept used to describe a south different from, but subjugated to a victorious north. “Victorious” is taken from the French historian Fernand Braudel, a neutral observer, who describes the south of France as a “near colony”.
Braudel perceives France as “a meeting place and an epitome of Europe”. Consequently there is more then one “other France”. A contrast between north and south is as unfair to Basques as it is to Bretons and the Flemish. Pursued further, this analysis leads to a “mosaic of small pays (districts) with their own local colourings”.
Whatever these divisions, the consequences are much the same. Mediterranean France, due to its geography, has supported only modest levels of prosperity.
Its development required long-term infrastructure and drainage schemes that favoured the rich and powerful. Languedoc has no large city with wider economic links and capital resources. Thus, France’s largest wine area suffers multiple disadvantages.
Languedoc produces more wine than Bordeaux and Burgundy combined, where area, quality and price overlap in a way comparatively easy to understand.
In comparison, Languedoc seems a different country. Waiting to be discovered at the end of every dusty track, you could find one of the most interesting wines you’ve ever tasted. But equally, there could be a big disappointment.
Three-fifths of its wines are produced as vins de pays (VDP), officially considered inferior to Appellation d’Origine Contrôllée (AOC). Including the adjoining area of Roussillon, Languedoc produces 34 per cent of France wine with VDP at 62 per cent of this total against AOC’s 14 per cent. This differs widely from France as a whole, with 30 and 45 per cent respectively.
This contrast is explained by Languedoc’s history and structural disadvantages. It used to supply basic uncomplicated wines to a mass market, which is now shrinking. Other regions of France are bound by tight rules guaranteeing quality and origin.
Languedoc, because it produced inexpensive bulk wine, was not bound by these conditions. As a different system with different rules, it remains a bastion of individual peasant values.
Consequently it faces in two directions at once. Peasant production is strong with small producers enjoying access to a network of producer co-operatives, linked to past struggles for economic survival. It is also on the front line of modern wine production bolstered by huge investment.
Reform, a constant in the region’s history, is complicated by EU competition rules, which means the area fights on two levels for space within a global market that favours large capital interests.
Two conclusions follow. The first is that the range of choices open to policy makers, far from being constrained, is more open than elsewhere. The second is that this is where politics and wine necessarily come into conflict. • Next week, we’ll look at the episode that shaped this struggle
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