During the long parenthesis due to Covid-19, the Bordeaux Wine Interprofessional Council (CIVB) reflected on ways to correct the image that sticks to the skin of the region: wines that are essentially red, tannic and strong, of classic, expensive and elite. This identity card corresponds less to current tastes and consumption patterns, and this is reflected in sales.
The general idea is to diversify the offer. “A wine region that produces 90% of red wine today suffers much more than others that offer the beginning of a balance between the three colors”, explains winemaker Bernard Farges, vice-president of the CIVB. Indeed, the French eating less red meat, the consumption of red wine at the table is falling, while the demand for white is on the rise everywhere in the country and the rosé is showing an insolent form. Whites and rosés dominate, for example, to accompany aperitif platters, very popular in cities.
surprise again
Bernard Farges ensures that, thanks to incentives, “white will re-develop in Bordeaux” – it was the majority in the region forty years ago. Allan Sichel, the president of the CIVB, is also betting on a diversification of juices so that Bordeaux “surprise” again with sweet wines, crémants, rosés…
The other driving force concerns the price. “It’s up to us to show the consumer that we produce terrific and very diverse Bordeaux wines between 5 and 15 euros”, says Allan Sichel. For this, the region counts “incarnate” its vineyard, highlighting the hard work of hundreds of winegrowers working in the shadows as well as winegrowers who are committed to telling their story, their wines, their approach. “Focus on people and less on controlled designations of origin”, formulates Bernard Farges. Without forgetting the productions that respect the environment, especially since the people of Bordeaux have often been singled out for their use of harmful products…
Jacques Lurton, at the head of the André Lurton vineyards, shares this objective: “Bordeaux must be given back a sense of wine, proximity, humanity, rediscovering a form of ‘living in Bordeaux’. » For him, the solution lies in a rapprochement between the consumer and the producer. Allan Sichel agrees, he who notes that “most restaurants in Bordeaux don’t offer a good Bordeaux wine list”.
Bringing producers and consumers together
Renewing the links between a vineyard and its city, between producers and consumers, requires the multiplication of popular events. For four days at the end of June, Bordeaux Fête le Vin attracted several hundred thousand visitors, who were able to discover local wines along the quays of the city, while wine bars, cellars and restaurants organized tastings at smaller ladder.
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