Some recommended holiday reading for Touraine producers

 
Helicopter flying over Sauvignon Blanc vines, Marlborough, New Zealand

I imagine that many Touraine producers are enjoying a few days well deserved holiday before returning at the beginning of September to get ready for the 2010 vintage.

While relaxing they might be well advised to consider the current difficult state of the New Zealand wine industry, particularly in respect to the glut of Sauvignon Blanc. 

Vineyards in Marlborough, New Zealand

 Links to recent NZ stories:

Marlborough wineries in receivership
July 13, 2010

by James Lawrence

Several wineries based in New Zealand's Marlborough have gone into receivership, with indications that more may follow.

Earlier this month, Cape Campbell Wines and its affiliate companies, Brown Sorensen Vineyards and the Brown Family Trust, went into voluntary receivership, owing creditors millions of dollars.

Cape Campbell Wines was owned by the Brown family, part of the Marlborough wine industry for 30 years.

John Fisk of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has been appointed to manage Cape Campbell's assets, said the three entities had liabilities totaling between $10m and $12m. He said he was unsure whether the company would continue to trade or be liquidated.

Last month, Awatere Vineyard Estates, a large contract grower owned by Auckland-based Barry Sutton, was put into receivership in addition to the Marlborough wine company Gravitas.

www.decanter.com/news/news.php?id=300020

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More Marlborough vineyards

NZ hit hard as sav blanc party peters out
Eli Greenblat
July 19, 2010

SOME wineries based in New Zealand's celebrated Marlborough region have gone into receivership, with more expected to follow, as the area's popular sauvignon blanc has been hit by a high New Zealand dollar, oversupply and early signs of a resurgence by Australian chardonnay.

Winemakers and retailers have started to detect a rebound by chardonnay after years of massive decline in consumption of the once-champion white wine style, potentially helping to resuscitate struggling wine businesses owned by Foster's, Constellation Brands and a host of other local wineries.

Read the rest here:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/nz-hit-hard-as-sav-blanc-party-peters-out-20100718-10fzp.html

And more...

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Wine industry hits sour note
By  Anna Rushworth   

5:30 AM Sunday Aug 22, 2010

The perfect storm is rattling New Zealand's wine industry, once regarded as an agricultural cash cow.

Latest figures from Realestate.co.nz reveal 96 vineyards are currently for sale, with the average selling time being nine months.

But real estate agents estimate the figure could be closer to 150.

Consecutive years of frosts in early 2000 led to lower harvests but with higher demand and top prices for sauvignon blanc grapes.

But the bubble burst in 2008 when the huge proliferation of vineyards and great weather meant a huge glut of wine, and prices tumbled.

Read the rest here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10667939

Awatere: the latest valley to be developed 

In the light of New Zealand’s difficulties is it really a smart move to opt to make AC Touraine Blanc 100% Sauvignon? 

Jim

 PS. Petit résumé en français, pour les réfractaires à la langue de Shakespeare: les faillites se multiplient dans la viticulture néozélandaise, frappée par la baisse de la demande de sauvignon dans le monde, alors que cette même viticulture, malgré sa belle organisation, a trop misé sur ce cépage. Voila de quoi faire réfléchir nos amis tourangeaux qui, pour l'AOC Touraine, veulent se concentrer, en blanc, sur ce même sauvignon...

On n'est pas obligé de reproduire les erreurs des autres.

Hervé

Comments

[luc charlier]

Who am I to give advice, whereas I’m not even able to sell half of what I produce, yet in limited quantity indeed?

But the “variety” issue is striking. New World wine producers – as they are called – often excel in the elaboration of varietal wines ... without the faults and draw-backs of their very variety.
Old European producers used to have an edge thanks to the making of wines with a strong connection to the terroir –and all that goes with it.

What are we witnessing now ?
The New-Zealanders find out a cultivar name and all its flavours is not always enough, and “the times, they are ‘a changing”, whereas Old World winemakers want to step back from their appellations,
to gain ... varietal status.

In the US - hardly my piece of cake – it has long been a habit to “overgraft”: semillon was not trendy anymore, Hup, there comes chardonnay on the same vine, and in full production the next
year.

In the Herault (and other southern French departments), viognier, chardonnay, sauvignon, merlot have made their way to the vineyard and, more prominently, to the labels!

What does this mean ? The clients, used to marketing, abused by it, misusing wine, want changes, novelty, hype and reassurance at the same time, rather than hedonistic – yes, I dare say it,
esthetic – emotions.

Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Peugeot, Jaguar, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Porsche: they all look the same now. And people buy them, at extortionate prices. And they could all reach a top speed in excess of 200
km/hour, with speed limits all over, and most people respecting them (willy-nilly). I’m willing to bet their design will change in a matter of 5 years, but they will still look alike, but “another
form of similar”.

“True” wine, hard to define but most readers of this blog will know what I mean, still exists, but appeals to a minute fraction of the wine-drinkers. We are, unrelentlessly, driven away by
mass-production drinks. This is no nostalgic plea for “the good old French, or Italian, or Spanish, or German wine”. More than 150 years ago, the Crimea, Constantia, Tokaji, Madeira and many others
made outstanding wines outside the boundaries of the classical wine-growing regions of Europe.

I see no major difference between B.....i breezer, Budweiser, E. Gallo, Mouton-Cadet.

Whereas, when the Trevallon people totally modified the shape of a rocky hill, planted cabernet sauvignon alongside the syrah, started again the “pigeage aux pieds” – I’ve seen Telmo of Remelluri
fame do it there – and made an altogether “novel” wine, they still respected the ancient tradition of wine-making and created a beauty, and one that sells well.

Passion doesn’t stand a chance in front of stock exchange!

[Jim Budd]

Merci beaucoup, Hervé, pour le petit resumé.