Dr Vino's wine blog

Vin de soif. The term captures a wine style–thirst-quenching, gulpable–that delights in the pleasures of drinking wine, not worshipping it. It has to also be somewhat light in body and easy on the wallet to make it really thirst-quenching for me. When I tweeted the term yesterday, Howard Goldberg replied that he only drinks vin de soif on Thirstday.

So today’s Thirstday vin de soif: the Christian Ducroux, “Prologue.” Although it’s labeled as a mere vin de France, Ducroux works Biodynamic vineyards by horse in Beaujolais. This wine is a 2011, a Beaujolais nouveau of sorts; according to David Lillie of Chambers Street Wines, which imports the wine directly and where I bought a bottle for about $15, this is second bottling that has more structure than the first thanks to more contact with the lees. The wine has sediment in the bottle and is somewhat cloudy in the glass. Red berries and hint of funk permeate the aromas. Low in alcohol, this thirst-quencher has a vivacious intrigue that calls out for food.

Dolcetto, which means either “sweet-ish” or “the one you drink while your Baroli are aging,” is rarely in better hands than it is with the traditional producer Francesco Rinaldi. Many dolcetti have coarse tannins but this “Roussot” 2010 has a seductive roundness to it, offsetting the notes of gentle bitterness and dark fruit.

I give it my highest rating: I’d buy a whole case of this wine. And, at only $15 a bottle, that’s actually within the realm of the possible.

Search for this wine at retail

When the fraud squad raided Verget from Verget.

Jean-Marie Guffens, a winemaker in Macon who founded Maison Verget, endured a decade-long investigation by French authorities, including Customs and Fraud office. It started in 2001 after the grapes were harvested but before the winery staff had even filed the harvest paperwork. And it continued ebbing and flowing, with allegations that Guffens was blending wine from the south into his Burgundies. In the 27-minute video, Guffens declares that “we live in a banana republic” with “mafia-style” raids including a surprise winery inspection with 25 officers, and accusations of complicity against the staff. His wife and members of the staff were even held in custody for two days. Eventually, in 2010, the charges were dropped. Guffens sued to have his name exonerated and– SPOLIER ALERT!–a judge in Beaune ruled in his favor in November.

This action and the heavy-handed tactics over Olivier Cousin’s whimsical labeling, set against the backdrop of declining domestic wine consumption, illustrate the difficult days for many French vignerons. I’ll add it to my file for updating Wine Politics.

The Mayans forecast a cataclysmic finish for 2012. My crystal wine glasses are not as clear, so instead of forecasts, I ask twenty questions relevant to the wine world in 2012.

Will dogmatism die? Sommelier Raj Parr disavows 14% as a litmus test for pinot; other somms say they are not into “natural” or organic wine movement as much as they are into the “good wine movement.”

Will prices of European wines fall if the euro weakens? Dream on.

Will India drink more wine? If import tariffs are significantly lowered, it can only help.

Will China go straight to the source and buy more wineries? The state-owned COFCO bought Biscottes in Chile in 2010, in part as a result of preferential tariffs; it could be a harbinger of things to come.

Will Americans put less wine on the table? Economic malaise could derail two decades of per capita growth in wine consumption; craft beer represents a real threat.

Will the Chinese embrace white wines? They go much better with the cuisine than reds.

Will Yao Ming’s small production wine boost all of California wine in China?

Will Bordeaux downturn morph into a free fall? Probably not but the top wines have already slowed notably.

Will box wines get better? In the category that producers and consumers like for the cost-savings, the trend is up but it has a long way to go.

Will wine writers disclose potential conflicts of interest? Transparency is key.

Will more wine blogs cease? The lack of a financial model still plagues the medium.

Will remaining wine blogs get better? Twitter and Facebook have siphoned off the “what I drank last night” posts; in order to break through the chatter, blogs have to have a strong voice, point of view, or original contribution relevant to the broader discussion about wine.

Will a wine newsletter fold? Charging anything limits audience size.

Will points self-destruct? Score inflation is rampant and remains the biggest threat to scores themselves.

Will more retailers become points-free zones? As Americans’ confidence with wine climbs, shops may not need to turn to third-party shelf-talkers.

Will freer trade in wine emerge within the US? New Jersey indicates a limited yes but the biggest unknown is what will happen with HR 1161 in the unpredictable lame duck Congress in November and December.

Will romorantin be the next hot grape variety? No, but it’s worth trying a good example.

Will malbec’s growth slow? Probably, if only because it can’t grow at 49% forever.

Will wine come from more far-flung parts of the world? Yes–crack a foreign pronunciation guide to unlock the frequent discount hidden behind unpronounceable or difficult words on labels.

Will wine remain fun? Oh yes.

Have questions of your own? Hit the comments and share them!

It’s no secret in Burgundy and beyond that Faiveley has been on a roll. And it’s no secret why: the arrival of the young Erwan Faiveley at the helm.

Erwan, 32, is the seventh generation in his family to run the company, which was founded in 1825 as a negociant, buying and selling wine. When his father was 25, Erwan’s grandfather literally turned over the keys to his dad. And in 2005 when Erwan was 25, his father continued the tradition and put Erwan in charge (Erwan himself has no children, so his position is likely safe for 25+ years). I sat down with Erwan in New York a few weeks ago to talk about how he has improved the house style, overcoming paternal resistance, vineyard acquisitions and biodynamic winemaking.

With the weight of generations on their shoulders, today’s heirs to the storied estates of Europe could be forgiven for having one primary goal: Read more…

The 2011 Beaujolais nouveau debuted around the world this past Thursday. Much of it was airfreighted; American Tim Eustis discovered the lowest-carbon footprint version of the wine by riding his bike to six stores around Paris. He sent us this virtual postcard and pics.

By Tim Eustis

Beaujolais Nouveau succeeded in the United States and beyond thanks mostly to the marketing prowess of Georges Duboeuf. More fun than good, his wines are drinkable for perhaps a bottle, but no more. Then came the backlash against the flower label wine and cultured yeast 71B with its characteristic “gout de banane.” The exciting rise of more “natural” Beaujolais Noveau, that lacks the banana flavors we’d come to expect, is a pleasure to sip. I unlocked my bike and set out to survey the wines–and the joyous scene–in some exciting wine shops in Paris. Read more…

It’s not every day that we get to talk about tax reforms on this site. Especially foreign tax reforms! But a recent change in the tax on capital gains from real property in France may cause several vineyards to sell before February 1 of next year.

French tax code previously had a zero percent tax on property held more than 15 years. No capital gains tax–and this is a land where the candidate from the parti socialiste has a 60-40 lead over the incumbent president? John Boehner must me gnashing his teeth.

The reform, introduced by PM Francois Fillon and ratified last month, would maintain the zero capital gains on property but push the holding period back to thirty years. (To ease the transition somewhat, in the intervening years, sellers will be able to step up their cost basis by the official rate of inflation.) Foreign owners may pay different rates. Here’s how one site calculates the change in tax bills:

A French property bought by a UK resident for €500,000 in 1996 and sold 15 years later for €1m, for example, would not pay any French Capital Gains Tax on the €500,000 profit made.

If the same property, in the same circumstances, was sold after 1 February 2012, only 20% of the profit (€100,000) would be free from taxation. The remaining €400,000 would be subject to 19% tax, resulting in a €76,000 tax bill.

While we’re not so interested in the holiday house market on this site, the net result is that some property holders who have held for about 15 years but not yet thirty may attempt to dump properties before the law goes into effect. That could mean some vineyards will change hands. Developing…

Although we mentioned it last week in a squib, it bears mentioning again: the French authorities have threatened Olivier Cousin, the horse-tilling vigneron that is a mentor for many younger ones, has been threatened with a $50,000 fine and two years in jail.

His transgression? Goofing around with names. The biodyanamic farmer of 25 acres in Anjou told Jim Budd that he left the AOC system in 2003 because it was too lax. “I stopped because the AOC is for industrial wines as the rules permit everything: weedkillers, huge yields, additives etc.” He thus marketed his wines as vin de table, the category at the bottom of the French administrative category as few are bold enough to do (as I detailed in Wine Politics). He marketed one of his wines as “Anjou Pur Breton,” which somehow made it past the authorities for several years despite containing a place name and a grape name (Breton is a local name for Cabernet Franc).

His distributor wrote “AOC” allegedly for “Anjou Olivier Cousin” on cases of his wines. This, coupled with his refusal to pay obligatory dues to an association, was the straw that broke the administrative camel’s back: He has been threatened with a significant fine, possible jail time, and one of his bank accounts have been impounded. The decision of how to proceed now lies with a prosecutor in Angers.

The crackdown on this sympathetic figure appears to have backfired. Thanks to the global reach of the internet, awareness of his treatment is high. Over 500 people have signed a petition on a French blog, his American importer is also mounting a campaign for signatures, and his UK importer is helping pay his legal bills. It’s sad that the Loire, site of so many distinctive wines that offer France a calling card overseas, is also the site of clashes with a moribund bureaucracy.