Thieves steal a vineyard-worth of grapes overnight

Harvest time has been and gone - quite literally for Roland Cavaillé. He's a winemaker in the village of Villeneuve-lès-Béziers in southern France.

Cavaillé grows just 10 hectares of grapes and last weekend went along to see how two of the hectares - planted with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes - were doing.

image Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Wikipedia, Agne27

"I wanted to see not only whether they were ripe enough for harvesting," he told the regional newspaper Midi Libre. "I also wanted to check on the state of the vines themselves."

But Cavaillé was in for a nasty surprise that particular morning, as someone else had been there before him, and harvested the whole two hectares.

The entire crop of Cabernet Sauvignon, totalling around 30 tonnes and valued at €15,000, had been stolen.

A neighbour heard the sound of a harvesting machine in the morning - not so unusual for farmers eager to make an early start - and there were also tyre tracks of a small lorry which had been presumably used to transport the grapes to nobody knows where.

But with a full moon to guide them and the relative isolation of the vineyard, the job of "lifting" the grapes undisturbed made it that much easier for the thieves.

"It has happened before but never to me," he told the national daily Aujourd'hui en France - Le Parisien.

"It's the work of professionals," he added.

"A private person most likely," explaining that it wouldn't be the work of someone supplying the local co-operative as it requires a provenance for all grapes supplied.


Les voleurs vendangent 30 tonnes de raisin en une nuit
envoyé par MCETV. - Gag, sketch et parodie humouristique en video.

"I'm disgusted by what happened," he told Midi Libre.

"We work hard to make ends meet, he said

As national radio Europe 1 reported there's even more bad news because Cavaillé won't see a centime in insurance money even though there's "irrefutable evidence" that a theft occurred.

"We're covered as far as theft of the vines is concerned," he said.

"But not for the grapes."

Raise a glass, Beaujolais nouveau 2009 is here

Events on the pitch at the Stade de France in Paris on Wednesday evening, as the French qualified for the football World Cup finals in a rather dubious manner, rather overshadowed an annual tradition in this country as far as media coverage was concerned.

But while for many the debate raged, and continues to do so, over the merits of a result gained with the helping hand of Thierry Henry, for others there was more important business to attend to as the first bottles of this year's Beaujolais nouveau were uncorked.

And if many of the initial reviews and comments from the producers themselves are to believed, the Beaujolais wines in general this year will be good which should bode well for the quality and sales of Beaujolais nouveau too.

"This year's wine is one of the greatest vintages as far as I'm concerned, and my father, who has had a lot more experience than me thinks the same," said Édouard Labruyère a producer of one what is considered by many to be one of the leading Beaujolais wines, Moulin-à-vent.

"This is my first vintage and I've begun with a dream," echoed Remy Sandrin who has just joined his family's vineyard.

Traditionally Beaujolais nouveau is always released on the third Thursday of November at the stroke of midnight local time.

That meant of course that while more than 5,000 people had descended on the village of Beaujeu, in the heart of the Beaujolais-producing wine area, to celebrate the official release of this year's vintage in France, the Japanese had already been uncorking their bottles.

Many wine lovers and experts may dismiss the whole "event" as a mere marketing device that overshadows the quality of other wines produced in the region but according to Interbeaujolais, an organization representing wine growers and traders in the region, the importance of Beaujolais nouveau cannot be underestimated.

It has become a "prime mover" of other wines produced in the area, and the figures rather speak for themselves.

Of the 120 million bottles of all Beaujolais wines sold last year, Beaujolais nouveau accounted for one third (or 40 million bottles) with 15.5 million heading abroad.

And for this year Interbeaujolais reckons that sales of Beaujolais nouveau will be between 280,000 and 300,000 hectolitres, or over one third of the region's total harvest.

Enough statistics though, and to avoid becoming confused by the reviews that are already out there on the Net and in the press, and doubtless the many more still to come, perhaps your best bet is to grab a a glass (or a bottle) and try it for yourself.

It's a wine after all that needs to be drunk now.

So go on, judge for yourself.

Cheers.

The future looks rosé for French wine

Unexpectedly perhaps France has won its battle with most of the rest of the 27-nation European Union to prevent the introduction of proposals that would have seen a change to the traditional way in which rosé wine is made in Europe.

On Monday the European agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, said that Brussels was abandoning plans to adopt the "blending" practice, or simple mixing of red and white wines, used by producers in some other parts of the world.

France, and in particular the powerful wine producing lobby in this country, had wanted the existing method of production to remain "as is" and had maintained that any change would seriously pose a threat to both the traditional way of making rosé wine and livelihoods.

The dispute had pitted France against a majority of the other EU members who had collectively agreed in principle in January with the Commission directive.

In April though, bowing to French pressure, Fischer Boel agreed to review the proposals before taking a final decision.

At the time the French agriculture minister, Michel Barnier, remained hopeful that a compromise of some sort could be found even though he admitted that the chances of France "winning" were slim.

"It's true that we're somewhat isolated in our stance to wish to preserve the traditional methods whereas the majority of our partners favour authorising blending," he said.

"We're perhaps on out own here, but I hope that at least there'll be a change of heart and an agreement can be reached."

In the end though the arguments of both the French and Italians, the two largest producers of rosé wine in the EU, "won the day" with Fischer Boel apparently taking on board the arguments of both countries.

"It's important that we listen to our producers when they are concerned about changes to the regulations," she said in a statement.

"It has become clear over recent weeks that a majority in our wine sector believe that ending the ban on blending could undermine the image of traditional rose.

While maintaining tradition might well have played its part in the EU's decision to drop the proposals, economic factors were probably also taken into account.

Rosé wine consumption is up - both at here in France and abroad - and has seen a steady rise over the last 15 years.

Heading the list of rosé wine producers are three European countries, all of which use the traditional method; France - 29 per cent of the global production at 5.9 million hectolitres, followed by Italy and Spain with 4.5 million and 3.8 million hectolitres respectively.

"Common sense has prevailed," said Roque Pertusa, the president of the Fédération des caves coopératives du Var in the south of the country.

"Full liberalisation just to try to compete with countries outside of Europe wouldn't have been a good idea," he added.

"It wouldn't have been worth it to put 30 years worth of work at risk to try to compete with the two million hectolitres of (blended) wine that enter the EU every year."

Santé, as they would say here in France.

French rosé winemakers see red

There has been a row brewing between France and the European Commission since the beginning of the year and it's all likely to come to a head at the end of this month.

It concerns the status - or more accurately the composition - of one of this country's most hallowed traditions - wine-making.

And more precisely what exactly should constitute a rosé.

In essence the dispute threatens to pit France against the other 26 members of the European Union, all of which agreed collectively in principle in January with a European Commission directive that would change the rules by which rosé wine could be produced in Europe.

At the moment it's created in the traditional way from red wine grapes which have been left to soak for a shorter time than would be necessary to make red wine.

The alternative practice in some other parts of the world is "blending", the simple mixing of red and white wines.

Brussels (home to the European Commission) now wants blending to be allowed in Europe to create rosé.

France - and in particular the large lobby of vintners in this country - wants the existing method of production to remain as it is and says any change would seriously threaten a tradition and livelihoods.

But the European Commission sees things rather differently. The French business daily Les Echos explains that as far as the Commission is concerned a change in the rules would open up the whole process of making rosé wine more flexible and less bound by tradition.

In doing so it would allow Europe to exploit emerging markets such as China and make its wine industry as a whole more competitive with those from other parts of the world such as Australia and South Africa.

Both countries already produce rosé using the blended method of production.

The economics are certainly something that haven't escaped wine-makers attention - both in Europe and internationally.

Rosé wine consumption is up - both at home and abroad - and has seen a steady rise over the last 15 years.

And heading the list of rosé wine producers are three European countries, all of which use the traditional method; France - 29 per cent of the global production at 5.9 million hectolitres, followed by Italy and Spain with 4.5 million and 3.8 million hectolitres respectively.

If the directive were to be universally adopted throughout the EU, France would be forced to make that change in the way it produces rosé.

Vintners here are worried. especially in the region of Provence a part of the country renowned for its rosé , that not only a tradition is under threat, but also livelihoods and jobs.

"It would be a terrible blow to the consumption of rosé which has grown considerably in the last decade and a half," according to François Millo the director of Provence winemakers' association (conseil interprofessionnel des vins de Provence).

And that's a view shared by Linda Schaller, the commercial director of Château Les Crostes in
Lorgues, in Var, Provence.

"Blending would mean that the wine would no longer be a rosé (in the real sense)," she insists.

"If the directive were adopted, then it would take something away that belongs to our tradition."

The French agriculture minister, Michel Barnier (who coincidentally will be heading the ruling centre-rightUnion pour un Mouvement Populaire, Union for a Popular Movement, UMP's list in the Ile de France region for the upcoming June European, parliamentary elections) remains optimistic that a compromise can be found that will also satisfy French wine producers.

"It's true that we're somewhat isolated in our stance to wish to preserve the traditional methods whereas the majority of our partners favour authorising blending," he admits.

"We're perhaps on out own here, but I hope that at least there'll be a change of heart and an agreement can be reached."

Part of that agreement could involve a two tier system of labelling as suggested by French wine makers, which would distinguish between "blended" rosé and that made using the traditional production methods.

"We are aware of the worries of producers from certain regions (in France) and in particular Provence, and those expressed by Michel Barnier. and we're going to look into how to react," says Michael Mann, a spokesman on agricultural affairs at the Commission.

A final decision on exactly what form the directive will take is expected on April 27.