French Vintners Find E.U. Concoction Unpalatable(2)
That was de Barry's way of dismissing a suggestion from the E.U. agriculture commission that the concerns of French rosé producers could be met simply by adding "traditional" to the label of real rosé.
"I think that the advantage of rosé is above all a delicacy," de Barry said, "and a variety of savors that one cannot obtain except, at harvest time, by judging the maturity of the grapes for a rosé, except by a learned dosage of contact between skin and juice so the color is perfect, except by precise work on the temperature according to what one is seeking in the rosé."
Gregoire de Bucy, the chief winemaker at Chateau de Saint Martin, said the several hours during which the skin remains with the juice are mainly responsible for giving rosé its personality. Losing that moment, he added, means losing the aromas, the fruity accents and the colors that, taken together, evoke the sun-baked hillsides and Mediterranean breezes of the wine's birthplace.
Adding red to white, he said, will produce nothing but white wine with a little color. Linda Schaller-Gallet, marketing manager of nearby Chateau les Crostes, said it was possible that, over a few years, the pink color of a mixed wine could fade away, leaving a clear, white drink.
"Every year is different when we make rosé," de Bucy said. "That's why we never end up with the same wine from one year to the next. With mixing, they would be making a sort of Coca-Cola, so they would standardize it completely."
François Millo, director of the Interprofessional Provence Wines Council, said it would be incongruous to allow mixes to be labeled as rosé when the World Trade Organization and individual European governments are waging war against counterfeit brands of handbags, perfumes and clothes.
"Here we have the contrary," he added. "The European Union is legalizing fakery."
Barnier's agriculture ministry, apparently not proud of its performance so far, declined to respond to a query on the controversy. Producers said Barnier has promised to push hard for a return to rules requiring the traditional process. "But the minister's not going to be there for very long," cautioned Gerard Audibert, a winemaking consultant in the Cotes de Provence region.
The European Union's parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 4 to 7, two weeks before the vote in the agriculture commission, and President Nicolas Sarkozy has put Barnier at the top of a list of candidates from France's ruling majority. His likely victory means he would no longer be agriculture minister for the vote on rosé, raising fears among rosé producers that their concerns will be dropped again and that mixed wine will flood the market beginning this fall.
"And what if it's good?" Audibert asked, half-smiling.
