On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:47:31 +0200, Michael Pronay > said:

] Emery Davis > wrote:=20
]=20
] > Why would someone spending $5 on a bottle buy a varietal label=20
] > over a territorial one, if they know nothing to begin with? Are=20
] > varietals fundamentally easier to understand, or is that just=20
] > successful marketing?=20
]=20
] Go ask growers in Bordeaux, the C=F4tes-du-Rh=F4ne, the
] C=F4tes-de-Provence why they want it. *They* want it, and I
] understand them perfectly well. Just step into a French
] supermarket and take a look at the shelves and into the shopping
] carts and you will immediately understand.=20
]=20

Michael, I go into a french supermarket nearly weekly. The wine is
grouped by region, and of course 99% of it is French. So I'm not
quite sure what you mean. The average french consumer knows
that Bordeaux is "good" and Cotes du Rhone is "bad", and has not
much of a palate. Every village fete or pot au feu has 2 wines available,
Bordeaux and CdR, with no particular distinction for producer, with
the former being more expensive regardless of quality.

In the last several years there have started to be some very low
end bottles listed by cepage only.

I contend that the desire (which I also understand and sympathize=20
with, although I think the point regarding blended wines is perfectly
valid) to list cepage is a concession to the export trade only. And
further in that trade that there is no particular reason to favor labelling
by cepage over appellation except that cepage has been more successfully
marketed. (This being the case it might indeed make sense to=20
throw in the towel and accept the market's judgement).

The AOC system was as you know developed to try and allow the
consumer to be able to count on a certain style of wine based on
terroir _and_ cepage, so that a consumer will know that a Pomerol
is not a St. Em, a Cairanne is not a Rasteau. Yes there is some
latitude visavis encepagement, in some cases. But in principal
the consumer can pick a wine from an appellation and have a
fair idea of what he's getting, without descending into the technical
details of producer or cepage. How many restaurants in Paris
list wine by appellation _only_? I'll bet thousands.

My point to Dan was that there is no particular reason for a newbie
to favor varietal labelling to regional. He needs advice, or at least
some cultural background on which to base decision.

-E
--=20
Emery Davis
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