The Old and the New

On July 25th of this year, Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley, California, was approved by the local growers of the village of Aniane in France to open a vineyard and winery in their area. Aniane is in the South of France - in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. This is a great project for Mondavi, who have been approved for a 99 year lease on 123 acres of land. It is also something of a milestone for the French who feel that the New World needs to take more of an example of the regulated European system in their wine production - Mondavi is a large American corporation and has already been labeled "colonialist" by local French producer, Monsieur Guibert (although he may have another reason for this - see below!).

However, French fears of Mondavi invading their wine production space with their New World, mass production techniques have been allayed by the hard work of David Pearson, Mondavi's man in France. He has spent considerable time with the local growers and assured them of his commitment to stick to local growing and production methods - he views it as an opportunity for his company to learn first hand from the French. So far, approval has only come from the town council and local winegrowers collective - now the proposition has to go to the French Government, although no problems are foreseen.

Perhaps this is the only region in France where this could happen successfully. The Languedoc region is not renowned for producing fabulous wines, for many years it has produced jug/bulk wines. For a long time the government has been implementing new AOC laws to encourage growers to start producing quality grapes at lower yields and therefore making more quality wines - and it is starting to be very successful. Mondavi wants to promote this and intend to produce a premium syrah - expected to cost $60 a bottle.

This project does have its critics, however. In France these have been spearheaded by Monsieur Guibert (mentioned above) accompanied by the Green Party and the Communist Party - they have called Mondavi "impudent" and a "predator". However they do seem to be in the minority - the Mayor of Aniane recently fined Guibert for his complaints about a road that was being built leading to the new Mondavi site. I say 'new' because originally Guibert and Mondavi were negotiating over some of Guibert's land - however Guibert snubbed the offer that was made to him, declaring it offensive. Maybe he has a chip on his shoulder, because he certainly approved of this American/French merger originally.

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