The Bordeaux appellation of Entre-deux-Mers may be familiar for its affordable dry white wines, but 85 percent of its wines are in fact red. Thanks to the failure to include these when the region received its AOC in 1937 has meant that they can only be sold as Bordeaux or Bordeaux Superieur.
If David Labat, president of the Organisme de Défense et de Gestion (ODG), gets his way, however, in 2023, this may change. An application has been made to the Institut National de l'Origine et de la Qualité (INAO), which has approved the establishment of a commission of enquiry to examine the conditions under which a red AOC Entre-deux-Mers might be possible.
The entire Entre-deux-Mers region comprises about 23,000 ha, of which the AOC Entre-deux-Mers currently has 1,441 ha of vineyards. According to Labat, an additional 5,800 ha could be used for the AOC Entre-deux-Mers rouge.
In order to improve the quality of the red wines, the ODG is planning to enforce viticultural requirements that prescribe a minimum density of 4,500 vines per hectare as well as a ban on wood chips and thermovinification during vinification.
The aim of a new classification is also to achieve a higher sales price of between €9 and 12 euros by upgrading the wines, so that producers can also make a living from their efforts, says Labat, "for some this has not been the case for years."
