Wine Business International

Two hundred Alsatian vintners vigorously attacked the Alsace Viticultural Association (AVA) late last month over reforms that could remove varietals from Alsatian grand cru wine labels. Famous for varietals like Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer, Alsace could face “commercial catastrophe” if labels indicated only the grand cru terroirs, the letter said, addressed to AVA president [and INAO Vice President] Gérard Boesch.

A letter drafted by winemakers, who included Laurence Faller of Domaine Weinbach, Olivier Humbrecht of Domaine Zind Humbrecht and Pierre Heydt Trimbach of Maison Trimbach, said that removing varietals from labels would confuse consumers: “It goes without saying that indicating the varietal brings essential comprehension to the consumer.” The letter also cited a January 2009 study indicating that 83% of retailers “could not imagine selling grand cru Alsace without mentioning the varietal on the label”.

Retailers seem to agree. “I would be lost,” said Jean Frédéric Eckert of Au Millésime, a Strasbourg-based retailer. “Both the grape and the terroir are equally important for Alsace, and especially important for buyers,” he said. For Simon Lambert, wine buyer for American importer The Chicago Wine Company, such reform would “kill Alsace stone dead”.

“I am not going to spend my time memorizing all 51 grand cru vineyards,” Lambert said. “We know that Clos St Hune is Riesling, and there are certain wines we do know, but there is a big enough struggle now to education consumers if a producer in Alsace has residual sugar or not. If you now drop the grape name, the majority of consumers would not have a clue of what they were buying. This is the most absurd thing that I have heard.”

Although Boesch could not be reached for comment, AVA director Frederic Bach said “change is looming” but that the “debate is just starting”. He explained that part of the logic behind stressing terroir is “the complaint that grands crus in Alsace [4% of total Alsatian wine production] cost far less than grands crus in Burgundy. So people are asking, ‘what is our handicap, should we stress the terroir [as is Burgundy]?’”

Eckert understands: “They are fearful that someday a Riesling or Pinot Blanc from other regions, say from Eastern Europe, at some point, could challenge Alsace varietal wines; the terroir name would stress the uniqueness of Alsace,” Eckert said. “But Alsace is not like Burgundy; we have so many different soil types that work for different varietals, and then it would make things very difficult for sales,” he repeated.

In response to the letter, Bach said that “the AVA is not forcing anyone to do anything, that the next step will be for all 51 grands crus to each say what they want, then the AVA will tell INAO [the French appellation authority]. ”

Since March 2005, the INAO allows Alsace producers the option not to indicate grapes used for grand cru wines. Before, all grand cru Alsace wines had been required to list grape variety on the label.

Now, a perception exists that the AVA leadership may interpret planned EU appellation reforms [replacing AOC with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)] as obliging the removal of varietals from wine labels. The letter charges the AVA with excessive ambiguity in this regard: “Mr. President, the future of Alsatian viticulture is at stake and you know it. Too many points are not being addressed or are hidden in shadowy Parisian hallways,” the letter said.

The letter was discussed by some 350 vintners during an AVA general assembly meeting on 1 July in Colmar. AVA grand cru section president Jean Michel Deiss, who prefers to stress terroir and sells his grand crus without mentioning grapes on the label, was singled out for his ‘authoritarian methods’ according to a 2 July article in Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, a regional French newspaper.

Deiss – who did not return calls or answer messages – was quoted by the newspaper as telling general assembly participants that “the AOP represents a great chance for our vineyards; my dream is to lead the 51 grands crus as AOPs.” Although he said that he does not want to impose his methods on other winemakers, many disagree. Laurence Faller of Domaine Weinbach for example said that “it is all fine that Deiss makes his wines the way he wants to, but such methods should not be imposed on the rest of us.”

“One must maintain the practice of naming grapes on labels,” added Jean Trimbach in an e-mail. “As grand cru president, Jean Michel Deiss was totally rejected, “ Trimbach said, referring to the general assembly meeting this month.

Another AVA general assembly meeting on 17 July to tackle the same subject and other issues promises to be “a heated affair”, Faller said.