Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
An error on a label can result in a fine or worse as a winegrower friend who had also been
a wine merchant had recounted.
'For a small mistake on a label I spent several weeks getting to know the interior of the
Sainte-Foy prison,' he said. 'It was incredible. I had no idea what I was in for; they arrested
me and threw me into prison. My lawyer came round and I asked, "How long until you get
me out of here?" He said, "Best case scenario, if you are innocent, six months." You can
imagine what that was like.'
His wife pulled a face that said it all. In the end he was there for eighteen days for a tiny
error on a label that he hadn't known was an error. He spent Christmas in jail, not knowing
what he had done, as the wine was sold to him as one thing but it turned out to be another.
Clearly what we put onto the labels had to be certified to the letter.
Three weeks later the results of the AOC request arrived. Our whites had passed but the
rosé had failed. The comment was 'herbaceous'. Since the failure was due to the tasting, not
theanalysis, wecouldresubmit ifwewanted to,butitwouldcostusanother fullsetoffees.
Lucille arrived and we tasted the rosé together. It was sublime; crushed strawberries with a
long finish, ideally suited to the markets we were targeting, dry but deliciously fruity.
'I can't believe they failed this wine,' I said.
'Perhaps the panel tasted a sweet rosé before yours and it made it too dry for them. There
is no limit on the amount of residual sugar in Bergerac rosé,' said Lucille.
'But "herbaceous"? I get no herbaceousness on this wine.'
'Me neither,' said Lucille. 'You must resubmit.'
'No way,' said Sean. 'On principle I won't. If they fail wines like this I don't want to be part
of this AOC. Anyway, it's too expensive to resubmit for such a small run. It adds a euro a
case to this wine which is already expensive to produce.'
I too was beginning to doubt the AOC. When it came to Bergerac no one had heard of
it. Perhaps we were better off without it. On the down side, vin de table was also bristling
with constraints. We could not put the vintage, the varietal or the word château on the label.
Most New World wines, unhindered by AOC, could use all these elements and more on
their wines without tests or tasting panels.
In March I plumbed the depths of despair. Perhaps there was a seasonal element to my
emotional valleys but there was also a hard reality. We continued to haemorrhage cash. We
did not have enough money to pay for the bottling.
My parents arrived for a two-week visit. They were in a different zone to us; retired and
living a life of comfort in North America with not a lot to worry about except their next
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