In article >,
Timothy Hartley > wrote:
>
>It is often suggested that French wine would sell better and be much
>more easily understood if the labels of AoC wines bore a reference to
>their constituent varietals. The French say that this ignores the
>over-riding importance of terroir. I have always thought the latter
>view to be right. To say that a St. Emilion is merlot, bouchet and
>cabernet sauvignon is only a tiny, tiny, part of the story — take the
>Corbin and Figeac groups, close as they are geographically, without
>even considering the differnce between those wines and those of the
>low lying vineyards around St. Sulpice & St. Pey. That could be said
>to be explained by the relative importance of the proportions of each
>and of the wine maker‘s influence although I would still argue when
>you look at those who have different chateaux in different places that
>terroir is vitally important. Look at the difference between the
>Nieppberg chateaux or Ch.Chante Alouette Cormeille and Ch. Gueyrosse
>for example.
>
>The reality of the argument has perhaps to be tested with unblended
>wines and this was brought home to me last week in a tasting of over
>30 different Burgundies. It might be thought that more useful
>information, and greater consistency, would be derived from a wine
>label which showed only one cépage to have been used so that it was
>possible to have the attachment of a single, pure, unblended, varietal
>label, in Burgundy, of either Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. However
>tasting three different climats of Dom. Coste-Caumartin‘s wonderful
>Premier Cru Pommards, both vertically and horizontally, though several
>vintages, was a clear demonstration, yet again, of the immense
>difference that a few hundred yards can and does make, even when the
>same winemaker is responsible for each of the wines under
>consideration. Why do apparently knowledgeable people continue to
>press for varietal labelling which may be appropriate for nations or
>areas producing one or two dimensional wines or those blended from
>many hundreds of acres but which would deny the subtlety and interst
>of the great wines of France? Can somebody please enlighten me?


More information is better. How would it possibly hurt to list the cepage?


Dimitri