Too distinctive for its own good? A rich French red wine

Awash in a flood of New World labels, the pride of France is to be rationalised – to the horror of traditionalists

By John Lichfield

French wine will soon be "like Coca-Cola", a senior French wine official said this week. The statement was not a complaint. It was a boast. A few years ago, such a declaration by a senior figure in the French wine industry would have been equivalent to the Vatican questioning the virgin birth of Christ. This week the reaction of the French wine world was muted, even resigned and, in many cases, positive.

The heretical declaration was made by Valérie Pajotin, the director of the French industry's new, international marketing arm, Anivin. What she announced, more precisely, was that, in the near future, many – possibly most – low and medium priced French wines will be mass produced and will have a uniform taste. Alongside the jumble of château names and "appellations" on the supermarket or off-licence shelf, there will be a relatively small number of instantly recognisable brands under the portmanteau title "Vins de France".

At the top end of the market, and even in the middle price range, the great, local wine names and traditions will survive or even thrive. No one is suggesting that Château Rothschild Lafite should become part of a new label called, let us say, "Regrette Rien". On the other hand, thousands of French wine producers who now make their own wine, or contribute to village co-operatives, will be encouraged (some fear, forced) to sell their grapes to large wineries or wine factories.

Resource: independent.co.uk