Tous les voyants sont au rouge pour les acteurs de la filière des vins et spiritueux en Europe en particulier, mais aussi dans le monde.
Un article scientifique, paru dans l’un des plus prestigieux journaux scientifiques (The Lancet) en 2016 concluait[1] : « : les résultats soulignent la nécessité de revoir les politiques de contrôle de l’alcool et les programmes de santé, et d’envisager des recommandations en faveur de l’abstention », corrigé par la suite « nos résultats montrent que le niveau de consommation d’alcool le plus sûr est de ne pas consommer d’alcool. Ce niveau est en conflit avec la plupart des directives de santé, qui prônent les bienfaits pour la santé associés à la consommation de jusqu’à deux verres par jour ». En 2022, un autre article, lui aussi publié dans le Lancet[2], mettait un peu d’eau dans le vin du premier en indiquant qu’il pouvait y avoir un certain bénéfice pour certaines populations, mais que d’autres étaient à risque.
Selon un sondage réalisé par la société d’études de marché CGA (propriété de Nielsen) en 2023, 52 % des Français prévoyaient de réduire considérablement ou légèrement leur consommation d’alcool lors de leurs sorties au cours des douze prochains mois. 16 % des 5 000 personnes interrogées avaient déjà commencé à le faire. La raison invoquée est l’inquiétude pour la santé.
Selon Wine Intelligence (un organisme d’études sur le comportement des consommateurs de vin), la part des buveurs de vin aurait nettement diminué sur les principaux marchés au cours des dix dernières années. Il y a une dizaine d’années, le pourcentage des adultes âgés de 18 à 34 ans qui buvaient régulièrement du vin était d’environ 50 pour cent en Grande-Bretagne. Si l’on considère le chiffre pour le même groupe d’âge fin 2020, il ne serait plus que de 24 pour cent.
En 2022, le Parlement Européen a approuvé le rapport sur la lutte contre le cancer avec des exigences claires : il n’y a pas de consommation d’alcool sans risque.
L’OMS change de paradigme et passe d’un discours de modération (2-3 unités par jour) à une communication plus radicale pour essayer de créer un environnement d’inacceptabilité sociale comme pour le tabac en 2023.
Plus que jamais, en termes de recherche médicale, les consommateurs se voient confrontés à des incohérences scientifiques et à des résultats contradictoires qui dictent les politiques publiques et qui éludent l’histoire de la consommation, celle de la production de boissons alcoolisées et le développement des civilisations humaines depuis au moins le Néolithique.
Claude Gilois, ex-biologiste (Fellow of The Institute of Biomédical Sciences), reconverti en importateur de grands vins étrangers en France et créateur de la société Vins du Monde en 1995, tentera de vous faire comprendre ces enjeux en 7 articles, publiés en français et en anglais sur son blog (mais aussi lisibles aussi dans la langue de votre choix) sur son siteterroirsdumondeeducation.com. Cliquez sur language pour choisir la langue de votre choix.
Les sujets traités seront les suivants:
Pourquoi la grande majorité des études sur ce sujet mènent à des résultats sans signification ?
Le corps humain programmé pour boire de l’alcool depuis 10 millions d’années ?
Comment le corps fait-il face à l’alcool et sommes tous égaux devant sa consommation ?
Existe-t-il une consommation sans danger d’alcool ?
Le vin est-il meilleur pour la santé (moins dangereux) que les autres boissons alcoolisées ?
Les organismes de santé publique sont-ils en train de devenir des instituts de du lobbying contre l’alcool ?
Épilogue sur l’hygiénisme par Ricardo Uztarroz, écrivain, ex-journaliste et grand reporter pour l’AFP
Connectez-vous sur le site terroirsdumondeeducation.com (pas de publicité, pas de revente d’adresses) pour recevoir les articles directement sur votre mail, ou cliquez sur « Suivre » sur Linkedin.
[1] Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators.
[2] Population-level risks of alcohol consumption by amount, geography, age, sex, and year: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020. GBD 2020 Alcohol Collaborators
AUCUNE CONNAISSANCE SCIENTIFIQUE N’EST PAS NÉCESSAIRE POUR COMPRENDRE LES ARTICLES. TOUS LES TERMES SCIENTIFIQUES ET TECHNIQUES SERONT EXPLIQUÉS.
1. A scientific article published in 1996 in The Lancet (one of the most prestigious scientific journals) concluded: » the results underline the need to review alcohol control policies and health programs, and to consider recommendations in favor of abstention », subsequently corrected « our results show that the safest level of alcohol consumption is to not consume alcohol. This level conflicts with most health guidelines, which advocate the health benefits associated with drinking up to two units per day. In 2022 another article, also published in The Lancet, moderated the first article by indicating that it could have a certain benefit for certain populations, but that others were at risk.
2. According to a survey carried out by the market research company CGA (owned by Nielsen) in 2023, 52% of French people planned to significantly or slightly reduce their alcohol consumption when going out over the next twelve months. 16% of the 5,000 people surveyed had already started doing so. The reason given is concern for health.
3. According to Wine Intelligence (The Wine Consumer Research Institute), the number of wine drinkers has decreased significantly over the last ten years in the main markets. A decade ago, the percentage of adults aged 18 to 34 who regularly drank wine was around 50 percent in Britain. If we consider the figure for the same age group at the end of 2020, it would be only 24 percent.
4. In 2022 the European Parliament approved the report on the fight against cancer with clear demands: there is no risk-free alcohol consumption.
5. The WHO is changing paradigm and is moving from a discourse of moderation to more radical communication to try to create an environment of social unacceptability as with tobacco.
More than ever, in terms of medical research, consumers are confronted with scientific inconsistencies and contradictory results which dictate public policies and which elude the history of the consumption and production of alcoholic beverages and the development of human civilization since, at least, the Neolithic.
Claude Gilois, ex-biologist (Fellow of The Institute of Biomedical Sciences), turned importer of fine non-French wines and creator of the company Vins du Monde 1995, will try to make you understand the issues in 7 articles, published in French and in English on his blog (but also readable in the language of your choice) on his website terroirsdumondeeducation.com
First article: week of January 22-26, 2024
A SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND IS NOT NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE ARTICLES. ALL SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TERMS WILL BE EXPLAINED.
Source :Charlie Leary on Jancis Robinson.com
Charlie Leary writes while completing his PhD in history at Cornell University, Charlie Leary became an organic farmer and artisan cheesemaker. After designing and teaching the first class on modern Chinese history at Tulane University, he devoted himself to business, opening restaurants and hotels in the US, Canada, Costa Rica, and France, also serving as the sommelier. He has recently returned to research and writing, now focused on wine. Charlie writes regularly for Tim Atkin MW and Jane Anson’s Inside Bordeaux, among others. He currently conducts research on Bordeaux history, including the philosopher Montesquieu’s role as a winegrower. This work has also uncovered two new examples of women wine traders in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His guide to wine education programs worldwide, Leary’s Global Wineology, was published last year.
The Vigneron Philosophe
Who is my favorite wine person, who once drafted to a friend, “I am looking forward to taking you to the countryside, where wine proves an excellent antidote for melancholy”?
Why a long-passed French nobleman, the “Baron de la Brède,” who relished winegrowing, the trade, and wine people his entire life. Over the past year, I’ve gotten to know him well by pouring through everything that he penned about wine. You may recognize him by another name, Charles Louis de Secondat de Montesquieu, better known as a brilliant philosopher, favorite read of the United States’ Founding Fathers (including the great vinophile Thomas Jefferson).
Baron de Montesquieu had multiple modes of being—the chief judge of Bordeaux’s highest court; the bon vivant of Paris salons; the correspondent of kings and princes; the serious philosophe, who tried to wipe out corruption and despotism with his pen—but the way of being he loved the most, that at once relaxed him and let his entrepreneurial talent shine forth, came from wine.
Unfortunately, his grandson burned most of his business records and other documents that might have shed more light on Montesquieu “the wine person.” What still exists remains fascinating.
He owned, through inheritance and purchase, a lot of vines. Near Chateau la Brède in Graves he had at least 11 hectares of vineyard, including his favorite estate wine Rochemaurin, where he produced white wine and claret. He loved Pessac wines, and bought a new vineyard not far from Haut-Brion in the 1720s. “I have a patch of moorland in the parish of Pessac quite near Haut-Brion . . . I would like to clear part of it to plant it with vines,” he wrote during a nasty public dispute with the Intendant of Bordeaux, Claude Boucher. Montesquieu opposed a royal edict forbidding the planting of new vineyards, an experience that contributed to his later views on absolute rule and despotism.
That Montesquieu’s theories about climate and national character contributed to the modern French concept of terroir is also less remarkable knowing he was a vigneron. In Martillac, he produced wine from 53 hectares of vines. He also had vast vineyards in Entre-deux-Mers and still more farther afield. Stories abound of him trapsing off to care for the vines, a floppy white hat on his head, wooden stakes on his shoulder. In the 1720s he wrote a questionnaire for other vineyard owners, aimed at gathering information about vineyard practices, grape varieties, soils, and topography. He knew his different terroirs produced wines of different characters, which he directed to well-chosen international markets.
He also made the wine itself, famously commenting to Madame Dupré de Saint-Maur: “I am busy here making nectar, the misfortune is that Hébé will not pour it into my cup!” A stuck fermentation perhaps?
Some historians have suggested Montesquieu made the majority of his money from seignorial rents, but this is doubtful. He said, « What I love about being in La Brède is that it feels like my money is beneath my feet. » His cash flow came from the annual harvest, an unpredictable business. In 1751, he wrote to Madame Dupré de St Maur: “I have finished my harvests.Imagine, all my fortune depends on three days of beautiful sun, also in the least amount of clouds I will see.” One of my favorite quotations concerns cabbages. Referring to the War of the Austrian Succession that disrupted Bordeaux’s wine trade, he wrote to a close friend in 1742: “I am very much afraid that, if the war continues, I will be forced to plant cabbages at La Brède.” He added: “our wines will remain on our hands, and you know that is all our wealth.”
How much wine might have remained unsold? His production capacity was nothing to sneeze at, and the facilities at the Domaine de Rochemaurin leave no doubt about his beloved vocation. A separate room with six presses stood ready to receive the carefully-tended Graves fruit. In the old cuvier sat five fermentation vats producing up to 40 tuns (900 litres each) of red and white wine; he also built a new wine room, with five smaller vats next to two 4500-litre vessels. In Raymond, at Entre-Deux-Mers, two cellars and two vat rooms handled a capacity of 500 225-litre barriques.
Upon his death, he had 387 barriques of already sold red wine and a hundred of white waiting for his Bordeaux merchants to pick up.
Some of that wine went to his friends in high society, who demanded the Montesquieu brand while also insisting on his company. An undated letter from Madame de Tencin pleaded: “If you knew friendship and all its delicacies, my dear friend, you would not deprive me of the pleasure of asking you for wine.” President Hénault of the French Academy placed an order on novembre 4, 1748: “They say, my dear colleague, that this vintage is admirable. I commend myself earnestly to you, and beg you to order me some wine, as great it can be, and all the best. I promise to wait for you to start drinking it: non alia bibammercede”(“on no other condition will I drink”, from Horace).
His father sold wine to the Scots-Irish merchant John Black II in the 1680s; they became intimate. And the familial friendship continued between Montesquieu and John Black III after he moved to Bordeaux in 1699 to join the burgeoning wine trade. Black became a successful negociant in Chartrons, capital of international wine commerce. He married a Jacobite, Margaret Gordon, and they bought a vineyard and villa in Lormont just across the river, where Montesquieu visited and socialized, decompressing in wine country splendor. Montesquieu wrote to Black in February 1750, “I find my son, and my grandson, are very happy with the friendship you give them.” He also had quite egalitarian views on women in the wine trade, seeking out “Marguerite” Black in Chartrons to conduct business. She was a pioneer female wine merchant, dispatching barrels and bottles far and wide. Madame de Montesquieu also worked at La Brede, fulfilling orders from Chartrons when Montesquieu was away.
He loved conversing with fellow wine people, which took his mind off other worldly concerns. In a 1751 letter, Black wrote to Montesquieu of his desire to finally leave Bordeaux. Montesquieu responded: “Your letter, my very dear friend, surprised me extremely. . . . This is the loss of the most agreeable pleasure I had there, which was to frequently see you and forget myself with you. I will never forget the memory, Sir and very great friend, of a friendship of forty years, and that was started with our parents, and that was always maintained.”
His experience with every aspect of the eighteenth century wine world contributed many of Montesquieu’s brilliant theories: climate and character, national progress, doux commerce, and the division of governmental power to restrain absolutism, among them. A pioneer in many respects, in 1749 he wrote to another great philosopher, David Hume, regarding a common wine-trading friend: “I beg you, sir, to pay my very humble compliments to Mr. Stewart: He would do well to come and see us again next fall.” That is, just in time for an en primeur tasting and sale of the new vintage to wealthy foreign markets.
A new political storm has hit Rioja, once again raising questions over the governance and strategy of Spain’s star wine region.
Bodegas Familiares de Rioja (BFR), an association representing 216 producers – that’s more than half of Rioja’s accredited wine producers – abandoned Rioja’s wine board and its sectorial committee, the OIPVR, last Wednesday sending shockwaves into Rioja’s corridors of power. More producers are likely to adopt the same course of action in the coming months.
BFR’s move triggered a wave of indignation from rival associations and Rioja‘s governors, who argue that consensus over reform takes time and even more than two years. But BFR is standing firm.
« We’re not going back to the managing bodies of the wine board unless the board has firm reform proposals. We hope our decision will prompt the Consejo Regulador (Rioja’s wine board) to get its act together, » BFR’s Vice-Chairman, Juan Carlos Sancha, told Wine-Searcher.
« Two years ago, we publicly announced plans to leave the board in 2023. In June this year, the Rioja wine board announced a set of reform intentions, but not firm proposals, so we proceeded with our decision, » Sancha explained, adding producers had unanimously agreed to the decision in two rounds of votes.
In the 2021 elections to the OIPVR of Rioja’s wine board, BFR increased representation to more than 50 percent of producers.
BFR’s move has raised doubts over whether Rioja’s wine board can continue to operate coherently with less than half of its accredited producers onboard, even if they produce a small percentage of Rioja’s wine, compared to that of the big wine companies represented by the powerful Grupo Rioja.
In early 2021, the wine regulatory board of Spain‘s Valdepeñas appellation in Castilla La Mancha was disbanded after the production sector formed of growers and cooperatives abandoned the managing body of the board albeit for different reasons: in this case, allegations of mass labeling fraud had emerged against big volume producers, including Felix Solis – a legal case has been remitted to Spain’s highest criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid. Management of the appellation is currently run by the regional council of Castilla La Mancha.
In the case of Rioja, its wine board could soon face further dissent. Wine-Searcher can reveal that ABRA, the Basque Association of Rioja Alava producers will table a move to abandon the Rioja board this autumn.
« A motion to leave the wine board will be on the agenda of the ABRA’s next assembly, » Itxaso Compañon Arrieta, ABRA’s Chairwoman exclusively told Wine-Searcher on Friday.
« A majority of members would need to back the motion, » she said.
ABRA and BFR, who largely share the same grievances against Rioja’s wine board over the excessive production of high volume relatively low-cost wines are formed of small and medium-sized producers who want to ensure economic and environmental sustainability through the production of quality artisanal wines.
Despite BFR’s move to leave the Rioja wine board, its producers will continue to produce and label wines as Rioja wines.
Reflecting the general growing sense of unhappiness – exacerbated by grape prices which in some cases have fallen below costs of production – several well-regarded producers of terroir-driven wines have hinted they may leave the appellation.
Wine critic James Suckling published on his website on that September 7, that renowned fine wine producer Telmo Rodriguez was planning to « ditch the Rioja appellation. »
Suckling had quoted Rodriquez who said:
« The current system doesn’t make sense. I am not interested in a world that is not interested in terroir. »
However, Rodriquez told Wine-Searcher on Tuesday that there had been a misunderstanding with Suckling, and that he was not about to leave the appellation.
« I am not going to leave Rioja, I am sure will do interesting things, but it’s true that we’re in a difficult moment with much uncertainty, » Rodriguez told Wine-Searcher.
Rodriquez said that the production of large volumes of Rioja classified as Crianza, Rioja, and Reserva does not correspond to a prestigious appellation.
Small producers say big companies are preventing the establishment of a hierarchical system in Rioja based on terroir and quality parameters and have no desire, for instance, for a study showing the mapping of the appellation’s soils to be made public, as it could undermine their businesses.
In 2000, Professor Vincente Sote´s of the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid was commissioned to conduct a study into Rioja’s soils, but Rioja’s wine board has never made the study public.
« It’s hidden away in a locked draw, the wine board should make it public, » said Oxer Bastegieta, a highly regarded producer of terroir-driven wines in Rioja Alavesa. « The study on the mapping of soils could provide one of the solutions to the appellation’s woes. » he said.
Bastegieta is part of the new generation of Rioja producers who have successfully developed their own brand of quality artisanal wines. « I don’t need the appellation as I have worked hard to develop my own brand. But I don’t have time to leave Rioja. I am working in the vineyards and winery, but out of my window, I see a complicated situation in Rioja has unfolded, » he said.
BFR’s Sancha, a veteran Rioja producer, agronomist, university professor and defender of old bush vine viticulture and diverse grape varieties, has spent much of 25 years on Rioja’s wine board calling for the implementation of democratic changes to governance. He reckons decision-making reforms would help reorientate Rioja’s strategy away from the surplus production of relatively low-priced wines.
« Most of Rioja’s development had ended up in standardized viticulture: Old vines have been grubbed up and replaced with vertical shoot positioning viticulture and much more productive clones, which in many cases, have been planted in areas, where they shouldn’t have, » he said.
Sancha says Rioja’s problems of excessive production started well before the impact of Covid, inflation, the invasion of Ukraine and Brexit.
« Rioja since 2017, has been producing more wine than it can sell, with vineyards expanding by almost 28,000 hectares since 1985, and this has led for the first time this year in the distillation of wines, and even so, Rioja still has 150 million liters of surplus stocks, » Sancha said.
Rioja’s wine board, the Consejo Regulador did not comment on the surplus stocks figure.
Making way more wine that it sells is Rioja’s fundamental problem according to wine critic Tim Atkin MW, who said in his 2023 Rioja Report that « Rioja was facing its biggest crisis since the 1980s. »
In order to bring about democratic and strategic reform Sancha has called small and medium-sized producers to have bigger representation on the Rioja wine board’s sectorial inter-professional committee, the OIPVR.
« Although we represent more than half of the producers, we only have 8 percent of the 100 votes allocated to the producers’ board, which is democratically absurd, » he pointed out.
The OIPVR’s voting system is based on wine volumes and grapes produced and sold, rather than their quality or value.
The allocation of votes includes a coefficient (points system) for each bottle of Rioja sold, which gives generic (Generico) labeled wines much lower scores than wines classified as Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva, even though many generic wines are sold at higher prices.
« Each winery with a bottling register has votes allocated according to the number of back labels it has requested from Rioja’s wine board, » Sancha said.
« For example, I sell my Cerro La Isa wine at €25 ($26.7 USD) to my distributors and at €45 ($49.2 USD) retail, but as it has a generic back label, even though it is certified as a Single Vineyard, it is worth only €2.40 ($2.56 USD) a bottle in terms of votes, as this price is the average price of all the bottles sold with the generic seal. However, a Reserva sold for €3 ($3.2 USD) in a supermarket is worth €4.85 ($5.9 USD) in votes, » he said.
Sancha wants representation based on actual turnover instead of inaccurate figures which benefits the sales of big industrial producers. Meanwhile, Sancha and the BFR may have to wait until the Rioja OIPVR board elections of 2025 for reform to be implemented if it comes about at all.
Rioja’s conservative wine board and ‘industrial’ producers have all too often shown their reluctance over reforms. New recent rules over the creation of village and single vineyard wines have been widely criticized for containing muddled and impractical aspects.
Producers who thought Rioja’s Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva traditional categories – in which wines are classified according to their age rather than according to quality parameters – would be excluded from new wine classifications say they’ve been let down.
BFR meanwhile says it wants another Rioja to exist.
One alternative for producers in the Rioja Alavesa sub-region is the Viñedos of Alava (Vineyards of Alava) appellation whose rules do not include Rioja’s Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva classifications.
Compared with Rioja’s production rules, the Vineyard of Alava’s Cahier des charges includes stricter limitations on yields, vineyard density and maximum use of sulphur in production.
Wines from this appellation would have to be made from grapes grown in Rioja Alavesa.
Rioja Alavesa is part of the Basque Country of Spain, which has tax raising and legislative powers, but its wine laws are determined by the Rioja wine board.
Rioja Alavesa is known for its old bush vine viticulture, traditional pruning techniques, and smaller-sized but sought-after vineyards.
ABRA has hoped that the Vineyards of Alava appellation, which was temporarily approved last October, would help sustain an alternative business model to the production volumes of large industrial estates which often sell Rioja wines including Reserva wines as low as and under €4 in Spain.
But in April 2023, the High Court of the Basque Country in Bilbao, temporarily suspended the authorization of the sales of Vineyards of Alava wines after the Rioja wine board lodged a lawsuit in which it claimed that the appellation and its wine « would cause reputational and economic damage to the Rioja appellation and confuse consumers. »
Vineyards of Alava and its own regulatory council have since launched a legal appeal against the ruling.
Highlighting its heavy-handed legal approach against ABRA Rioja’s wine board, authorized last November, are controversial new exclusivity rules which, among other matters, restrict Basque growers from selling grapes.
With Rioja producers either leaving the governance of Rioja or poised to leave the appellation entirely, the Rioja wine boards’, at times, authoritarian approach to dissidents and what the region’s smaller producers describe as half-hearted reform intentions, could well backfire.
Dans une étude publiée par CGA étayée par NielsenIQ, les consommateurs prennent la route vers plus de sobriété. Moins d’alcool dans leur verre et la CHR (Hors domicile – café, hôtels, restaurants) qui doit s’adapter.
La sobriété s’installe de plus en plus dans les habitudes des Français. Un constat qui se révèle de plus en plus, notamment par le comportement d’achat des individus. La cherté de la vie et des produits de consommation alimentaire orientent également les choix. L’enquête OPUS menée par CGA auprès de 5 000 consommateurs français de boissons en CHR (Hors domicile – café, hôtels, restaurants) révèle effectivement que plus de la moitié des sondés réduiront de manière élevée ou moyenne leur consommation de boissons alcoolisées.
TENDANCES ALTERNATIVES
Selon l’étude, plus de 15 % d’entre eux auraient déjà entrepris de diminuer considérablement leur consommation d’alcool. Quand ils sortent, les Français vont choisir des mocktails, ou des boissons non alcoolisées. L’enquête et des données recueillies par le ‘France Mixed Drinks Report’ (rapport sur les boissons et cocktails en France) montreraient que l’affection des Français pour le cocktail ne les pousse pas à consommer ceux qui sont confectionnés à base d’alcool. En effet, 46 % des sondés préfèrent opter pour un cocktail sans alcool ou avec une teneur en alcool très légère l. Au-delà de la consommation, il s’agit bien d’une stabilisation de ces consommateurs. L’étude souligne que ces consommateurs ne sont pas anodins en CHR et consomment par ailleurs fréquemment à l’extérieur. Ces consommateurs dits No Low (contraction de No Alcohol ou Low Alcohol) sont conséquents. Les données OPUS de CGA by NielsenIQ et le ‘France Mixed Drinks Report’ rapportent que « 53 % fréquentent au moins une fois par semaine, + 9 pts par rapport au visiteur moyen en CHR. Ils dépensent 86 euros par mois lors de leurs sorties en CHR, soit plus que la moyenne de 79 euros, leur revenu moyen étant aussi plus élevé (+ 791 euros par rapport à la moyenne ».
Source: Witisphere
Nouvelle étape dans la marchandisation de l’influence des critiques avec le lancement d’achat de temps et de notes de dégustation par les éditions Féret proposant l’accès assuré à sept critiques.
« Tout s’achète : l’amour, l’art, la planète Terre, vous, moi » écrivait Frédéric Beigbeder dans 99 francs (2000, éditions Grasset). – crédit photo : Editions Féret
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Pour les amateurs de vin s’inquiétant de savoir si les notes de dégustation qu’ils lisent dans une revue sont influencées par la publicité dans le numéro précédent, les choses sont claires avec l’offre proposée par les éditions Féret. Connu historiquement pour ses parutions précédant et accompagnant les classements de grands crus bordelais au XIXème siècle, le Féret vit avec son temps en se digitalisant et en facturant son influence : « il s’agit d’une marketplace qui permet aux producteurs abonnés à la solution digitale Bordeaux et ses Vins [NDLA : de 45 à 195 €/mois] de faire déguster les millésimes de leur choix [pour un] coût de prestation de 160 € par dégustation d’un journaliste » résume à Vitisphere Stéphane Zittoun, le directeur général éditions Féret, précisant que « les producteurs non abonnés, et d’autres régions que Bordeaux peuvent aussi avoir accès à ce service pour un coût supérieur » (incluant la gestion logistique des échantillons et la traduction en huit langues des notes).
« Pour les producteurs, c’est l’opportunité de faire déguster le vin de leur choix, du millésime qu’ils souhaitent, par le journaliste qu’ils ont choisi, et au moment voulu » argumente un communiqué, précisant que « parmi les journalistes de renommée mondiale partenaires de Féret »on trouve Bernard Burtschy, docteur en statistiques ex-Le Figaro, actuellement critique pour Les Echos et Valeurs Actuelles, Jonathan Choukroun Chicheportiche, à la tête du site et quadrimestriel Vert de Vin, Colin Hay, professeur des universités à Sciences Po Paris correspondant pour Drinks Business à Bordeaux, Chris Kissack, à la tête du site WineDoctor, Xavier Lacombe, formateur et blogueur écrivant pour Sommeliers International, Jeff Leve le créateur du site the Wine Cellar Insider, Richard Hemming, consultant titulaire du Master of wine écrivant pour le site de Jancis Robinson. En tout, sept critiques « qui seront rapidement rejoints par d’autres noms aussi prestigieux » promet le site.
Principe de l’enchère absconse
Transparente dans son approche économique de revenus supplémentaires pour le Féret et les critiques, l’opération peut cependant poser des questions au consommateur. « En fait, c’est le principe de l’enchère absconse : tout le monde va tendre vers la note maximale » avance à Vitisphere le professeur des universités Fabrizio Bucella, titulaire du cours de mathématiques de l’incertitude à l’Université Libre de Bruxelles et vidéaste/écrivain prolifique sur le vin*. Le risque pour lui est que « les dégustateurs sont choisis par les châteaux. Les dégustateurs qui remettent une meilleure note sont logiquement privilégiés par les châteaux. Corollaire : les dégustateurs remettent les meilleures notes possibles. Donnons directement 100 à tous les vins, et le tour est joué. »
Un risque que réfute Stéphane Zittoun. Pour son directeur, « Féret n’est pas une machine à blanchir les mauvais vins, mais plutôt un accélérateur de notoriété pour les vins qui sont en dessous des radars de ces journalistes, ou pour lesquels ils ont un besoin de note (vendre un stock sur une zone en particulier par exemple). » Et de préciser par le menu que « le journaliste a l’obligation de goûter, mais évidemment son objectivité n’est pas à remettre en question. Nos contrats avec eux le spécifient : si le vin présenté ne le mérite pas, et si le journaliste ne souhaite pas que son nom apparaisse accolé à ce vin, ils n’a même pas l’obligation de donner un score et une note. De son côté, le producteur est également prévenu que son vin sera dégusté avec objectivité, et qu’il court le risque de la mauvaise note. Mais il le sait souvent déjà, donc il ne présentera sans doute pas de vins dont il n’est pas fier. En complément, le producteur peut choisir s’il affiche/utilise le score, la note, les deux ou aucun des deux. De son côté, le journaliste décide s’il indique cette dégustation sur son media (site web, réseaux sociaux) ou non. »
En phase de relance sur le web depuis ce printemps, le Féret indique avoir reçu 4 000 visiteurs sur son site en juin 2023. Si le site ne communique pas son nombre d’abonnés payants, actuellement 3 291 propriétés bordelaises apparaissent sur la base de données « Bordeaux et ses vins ».
Νυχτέρι (Nykteri): est la dénomination traditionnelle réservée aux vins blancs secs de l’AOP Santorini ayant un titre alcoométrique naturel minimal de 13,5 % vol., qui ont été vinifiés soit en cuve, soit en fût et qui sont ensuite élevés en fûts pendant au moins trois (3) mois.
Le terme traditionnel fut accepté en 2002 par l’Union Européenne avant qu’en 2023, la mention traditionnelle «Νυχτέρι» soit remplacée en alphabet latin par «Nykteri» / «NYKTERI».
Le Gaia Nykteri est principalement élaboré avec de l’Assyrtiko mais aussi de l’ Aidani et de l’Athiri qui lui confèrent des notes fruitées un peu plus intenses.
NB : Il est intéressant de noter que sur l’étiquette de Gaia (qui n’est pas le seul), le terme utilisé est NYKEPI, un hybride en quelque sorte des termes grecs et latins. Pas sûr que l’Union Européenne va apprécier.
La traduction littérale est : nuit.
Pour consulter le descriptif complet de l’appellation, cliquez sur le lien suivant: SANTORIN / Σαντορίνη Π.Ο.Π.
Claude Gilois, creator of Vins du Monde in 1995 and importer of Catena wines in to France
It was during her visit to Paris on Monday 26th June for a dispassionate comparative tasting of French wines and wines from the Catena Estate, that we found her smiling, wearing her Argentinian gaucho beret[1], her media signature. All participants in the tasting were given Laura Catena’s latest book, “Malbec, Mon Amour”, an informative and entertaining book in French whose title is inspired by Alain Resnais’ film, “Hiroshima, Mon Amour”.
Laura Catena is the CEO of the eponymous family business and the fourth generation of Catena at the helm of the estate. If it takes leaders to ensure success, then Laura has all the qualities. First her education in the two best universities in the world: Harvard where she studied biology and obtained her degree with one of the highest grades (Magna cum laude). She then studied medicine at Stanford University[2] and became an emergency doctor in Los Angeles and then San Francisco – “It’s my way of saving the world, wine doesn’t have that power”.
Catena is already the emblematic domain in Argentina under the direction of her father, Nicolas, a doctor of economics, who went into exile with his family in the United States during the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983) before returning to the country to create Argentina’s first high-altitude vineyards in the Uco Valley.
It was a wine event in 1995 that would change the situation and bring Laura closer to the family business. The estate was invited to the “Wine Experience”, the big annual “smorgasbord” where all the elite American viticulture present their wines even those who have nothing to sell are present. It’s a fiasco for Catena, no one knew the domain, worse still, most people didn’t even know that wine was made in Argentina. Laura then decided that she was going to help her father. She is outgoing and engaging while her father is reserved and sometimes shy. Together they made a formidable team because they enjoy working as a team. She entered the estate on tiptoe and took care of the American market for three years before taking over the management of export markets for eight years and became CEO of Catena in 2009 while continuing her job as an emergency doctor in San Francisco as well as raising her three children.
In 2010, she released her first book “Vino Argentino”, a book on oenotourism in Argentina. Her vision of wine and her working methods are not unlike those of Angelo Gaja in Italy or Eben Sadie in South Africa. All domains have an important family dimension and several family members contribute to the success of the company, all lead by example and set the bar very high. You have to fit into the mould to find your place. All have a long-term vision and all attach great importance to research and innovation. While these two parameters are empirical with Gaja and Sadie, they take on a more scientific dimension at Catena. In 1995, Laura created the « Catena Wine Institute » which works in collaboration with the University of California Davis and the « Universidad Nacional de Cuyo ». The Catena Institute manages university research and development programs. Through these academic partnerships, the Institute seeks to advance and promote knowledge for the wine community as a whole. Because the Institute has its PhD students who publish in peer-reviewed journals, all players in the wine industry can benefit from scientific progress. Her intelligence is matched only by her equally formidable energy and Laura continued to practice medicine until 2018. In addition to her responsibilities within Catena which employs 100 people, she is the owner of the estate Luca, which markets wines from old vines. In 2020 she released her second book “Gold in the Vineyard” which presents 12 of the most emblematic vineyards in the world including the vineyard of Adriana de Catena. As if that weren’t enough to fill her schedule, she is a board member of the University of California, « Davis, School of Viticulture and Oenology », and co-director of the Caro estate, a joint venture between Catena and the Baron Philippe de Rothschild estates. In 2023, Dr Laura Catena was appointed new Honorary President of the “Wine and Spirit Education Trust” (WSET), the undisputed leader in education in the field of wine and spirits in the world.
Michel Platini, arguably the greatest French football player once said that to win a World Cup, you need at least one great player in the team. Argentina had Lionel Messi, and they won the cup in 2022. France too had a great player, Kylian Mbappé and they might as well have won it too.
The same goes for putting a country at the top of the wine world, one needs an undisputed and charismatic leader. If we add that she is quadrilingual (Spanish, English, French, Italian) and endowed with a good dose of humility and empathy, then Argentina has probably found its figurehead. Her name is Laura Catena.
[1] The Argentinian gaucho beret is actually the Basque beret and Argentina has one of the largest Basque diasporas in the world.
[2] The universities of Harvard and Stanford are among the highest ranked in all university rankings in the world.
Claude Gilois, créateur de Vins du Monde en 1995 et importateur de Vins de Catena en France
C’est lors de son passage à Paris le lundi 26 juin, pour une dégustation comparative dépassionnée de vins français et de vins du domaine Catena, organisée par Vins du Monde à l’Hotel de Crillon à Paris, que nous l’avons retrouvée souriante coiffée de son béret[1] de gaucho argentin, sa signature médiatique. Tous les participants à la dégustation se sont vu remettre le dernier livre de Laura Catena, « Malbec, mon Amour » un livre informatif et ludique en français dont le titre est inspiré du film d’Alain Resnais, « Hiroshima, mon Amour ».
Laura Catena est le PDG de la société familiale éponyme et la quantième génération des Catena aux commandes du domaine. S’il il faut des premiers de cordée[2] pour assurer la réussite, alors Laura en a toutes les qualités. D’abord son éducation dans les deux meilleures universités du monde. À Harvard où elle étudie la biologie et obtient sa licence avec mention très bien (Magna cum laude). Elle fait ensuite sa médecine à l’Université de Stanford[3] et devient médecin urgentiste à Los Angeles puis San Francisco. C’est sa façon de sauver le monde, le vin n’a pas ce pouvoir pour elle. Catena est déjà le domaine emblématique de l’Argentine sous la direction de son père, Nicolas un docteur en économie, qui s’est exilé avec sa famille aux États-Unis pendant la dictature argentine (1976-1983) avant de revenir au pays pour créer les premiers vignobles de haute altitude d’Argentine dans la vallée d’Uco.
C’est un évènement viticole en 1995 qui va changer la donne et qui va rapprocher Laura de l’entreprise familiale. Le domaine est invité à la « Wine Experience », le grand raout annuel où tout le gotha de la viticulture américaine vient présenter son vin, où même ceux qui n’ont rien à vendre sont présents. C’est un fiasco pour Catena. Personne ne connaît le domaine. Pire encore, la plupart des gens ne savent même pas que l’on fait du vin en Argentine. Laura décide alors qu’elle va aider son père. Laura est avenante et engageante alors que le père est un réservé parfois timide. À eux deux, ils vont faire une équipe redoutable car il aime travailler en équipe. Elle entre au domaine sur la pointe des pieds et en s’occupe du marché américain pendant 3 ans avant de prendre la direction des marchés d’exportation pendant 8 ans et devient PDG de Catena en 2009 tout en continuant toujours son métier de médecin urgentiste à San Francisco et d’élever ses trois enfants. En 2010, elle sort son premier livre, « Vino Argentino », un livre sur l’œnotourisme avant l’heure, en Argentine. Sa vision du vin et ses méthodes de travail ne sont pas sans ressembler à celles d’Angelo Gaja en Italie ou d’Eben Sadie en Afrique du Sud. Tous ces domaines ont une dimension familiale importante et plusieurs membres de la famille contribuent au succès de l’entreprise. Tous dirigent par l’exemple et placent la barre très haute. Il faut se fondre dans le moule pour y trouver sa place. Tous ont une vision à long terme et tous accordent beaucoup d’importance à la recherche et à l’innovation. Alors que ces deux paramètres sont empiriques chez Gaja et chez Sadie, ils prennent une dimension plus scientifique chez Catana. Dès 1995, elle crée le « Catena Wine Institute » qui travaille en collaboration avec l’Université de Californie Davis et l’« Universidad Nacional de Cuyo ». L’Institut Catena assure la direction des programmes universitaires de recherche et de développement. À travers ces partenariats académiques, l’Institut cherche à faire progresser et promouvoir la connaissance pour la communauté viticole dans son ensemble. Car, l’Institut a ses thésards qui publient dans des revues à comité de lecture. Tous les acteurs de la filière du vin peuvent donc profiter des progrès scientifiques. Son intelligence n’a d’égal que son énergie tout aussi formidable et Laura continuera d’exercer la médecine jusqu’en 2018. Car, en plus de ses responsabilités au sein de Catena qui emploie une centaine de personnes, elle est propriétaire du domaine Luca, qui commercialise des vins de vieilles vignes. En 2020, elle sort son deuxième livre « Gold in the Vineyard » qui présente 12 des plus emblématiques vignobles du monde y compris le vignoble d’Adriana de Catena. Comme si cela ne suffisait pas à combler son emploi du temps, elle est membre du conseil d’administration de l’Université de Californie, « Davis, School of Viticulture and Oenology », et co-directrice du domaine Caro, une joint-venture entre Catena et les domaines Baron Philippe de Rothschild. En 2023, Dr Laura Catena est nommé comme nouvelle présidente honoraire du « Wine and Spirit Education Trust » (WSET), le leader incontesté de la formation dans le domaine des vins et spiritueux dans le monde.
Michel Platini, sans doute le plus grand joueur de Football français, disait que pour gagner une coupe du Monde, il faut au moins un grand joueur dans l’équipe. L’Argentine avait Lionel Messi, et elle l’a gagné en 2022. La France aussi avait un grand joueur KylianMbappé et elle aurait tout aussi bien pu la gagner.
Il en va de même pour mettre un pays sur la carte du monde viticole, un faut un leader incontesté et charismatique. Si l’on ajoute qu’elle est quadrilingue (espagnol, anglais, français, Italien) et dotée d’une bonne dose d’humilité et d’empathie, alors L’Argentine a probablement trouvé sa figure de proue. Elle s’appelle Laura Catena.
[1] Le béret de gaucho argentin est en fait le béret basque et l’Argentine possède l’une des plus importantes diasporas basques au monde.
[2] Référence à une déclaration du Président français Emanuel Macron et qui fit couler beaucoup d’encre.
[3] Les universités de d’Harvard et de Stanford sont parmi les mieux classées dans tous les classements des universités au monde
Laura Catena et Claude Gilois
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