Sat, 25 Jan 2025

The French winemaker whose wines are illegal in his home country

Maxime Chapoutier makes wines that combine French and Australian grapes, a strict no-no in the EU.
The wines are made by shipping bulk wine from Australia to the UK, where it's blended with French wine from the Rhone and Roussillon regions before bottling. Maxime believes that his family's 200-year-old company, Chapoutier, should adapt to consumer preferences and make wines more accessible, which international blends can help achieve. Penfolds, an Australian winemaker, is also creating "wine of the world" blends combining grapes from two continents, including some made with French grapes. However, these wines cannot be sold in the EU due to the same EU law. Not everyone is supportive of this development. Jas Swan, a German independent winemaker, fears that if the trend grows, it will lead to more cheap, low-grade wine being sold, lacking any terroir and made with machine work and heavy additions. Wine experts like Peter Richards and his wife Susie Barrie are also skeptical, saying that blending grapes from different countries is about creating novelty for its own sake. However, some wine writers see this trend as a fun idea, where the skill required to blend good wines together can create something interesting coming from such different places. The Wine Society's head of buying, Pierre Mansour, came up with the idea of creating two-continent blends as part of their 150th birthday celebrations, aiming to innovate and mitigate climate change impacts on wine production.
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