February 17, 2012 The Bitter Battle Over Sweet Wine By ERIC PFANNER ROCHEFORT-SUR-LOIRE, FRANCE . The Loire Valley vineyard of Quarts-de-Chaume produces one of the most delectable sweet wines in the world, a nectar as mellifluous as the French that is spoken in this most linguistically correct region of France. But it has left a bitter taste on the tongues of some of the local producers. This is a dispute in which both very little and quite a lot is at stake. With only 50 hectares of vines, Quarts-de-Chaume is one of those postcard-size appellations that dot the French winemaking map. But the grapes it yields are special; the Layon River, which snakes its way toward the Loire in the valley below, sends humidity up the slope, fostering the development of botrytis, or noble rot, producing an unusually racy, complex, sweet wine. The quality of Quarts-de-Chaume, which lies just outside this town in the Anjou region, has been recognized since the Middle Ages. Its name, according to some tellings, refers to the fact that in pre-Revolutionary, feudal France, the tenant farmers were required to give one-quarter of their harvest to the landowner. Quarts-de-Chaume was also expected to lead the wines of the Loire into the future. After Bordeaux and the RhôValley, this is the third-largest quality wine- producing region in France, stretching from the hills of Auvergne to the mouth of the river near Nantes. While it has a trove of interesting varieties and unexpected finds, the wines have rarely fetched the consumer attention . or the prices . of their rivals from more prestigious French regions. One reason, some Loire producers say, is the lack of an official ranking system, like the classifications that govern the wines of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne; there, the most aristocratic vineyards are labeled as grands crus or premier crus; in the Loire Valley, all the wines, in the best Republican tradition, are commoners. Some years ago, in an effort to raise the profile of the region.s wines, Loire vignerons began agitating for the creation of their own hierarchy. Quarts-de-Chaume was nominated as the first candidate for grand cru status. A portion of the larger vineyard that surrounds Quarts-de-Chaume, called Coteaux-du-Layon, was nominated to become the first premier cru. Finally, late last year, the authority that oversees the complex system under which quality French wines are labeled, granted the vignerons their wish. There was just one final hurdle: approval from the Conseil d.Éat, a high administrative court, which is often just a rubber stamp in such matters. In January, however, one of the biggest and best Quarts-de-Chaume producers, Domaine des Baumard, filed a lawsuit with the council, seeking to block the project. A simmering feud between Baumard and the other vignerons flared up again. .Libertéegalitéfraternité these are no longer the three words of France,. said Florent Baumard, who runs the family-owned estate. Dressed in a stylish suit, pouring samples of Quarts-de-Chaume at a recent wine fair in the city of Angers, Mr. Baumard hardly looked the part of the Jacobin. He said he had no objection to the creation of grands crus and premiers crus along the Loire . only to the way in which the plan had been drafted. Mr. Baumard said the authorities ought to have conducted a wholesale inventory of the Loire Valley.s vineyards . a vast and jumbled landscape that includes well-known appellations like Sancerre, Vouvray and Saumur-Champigny, as well as more obscure regions like Muscadet-Cô-de-Grandlieux, Touraine-Azay-le-Rideau and Cô-du-Forez. Mr. Baumard has another objection, this one more personal. Under the fine print in the proposal, certain vine-growing and winemaking practices long employed by his estate would be banned. These include a technique called cryo-selection, which involves freezing the grapes before they are pressed. Some critics describe this as a way to artificially concentrate the wine, though Mr. Baumard said he used it merely as a way to sort out inferior grapes. Some of the most prominent producers of sweet wine in Sauternes, the great Bordeaux appellation, do the same, he added. Banning such processes .is Bolshevism, a return to the Middle Ages,. he said. Rival Quarts-de-Chaume vignerons also disapprove of Mr. Baumard.s vineyards, which were planted, decades ago, in widely spaced rows. This is contrary to the winemaking orthodoxy . in France, at least . which holds that tightly packed vineyards produce the best wine because they force the individual vines to work harder, yielding fewer, more flavorful grapes. Mr. Baumard said his father had planted the vines after studying practices in countries like Germany and Austria, which, like the Loire Valley, have relatively cool climates. The wider spacing lets in more sun. Under a previous rule change, some of Mr. Baumard.s vineyards were already disqualified, costing him hundreds of thousands of euros worth of production, he said. Now he fears that the rest might be threatened. .I live from these vineyards. I can.t let it happen,. he said. Others are equally determined to get the rules in place. Claude Papin, who heads the Quarts-de-Chaume vignerons. association, has been campaigning tirelessly for the new labels and is infuriated that Domaine des Baumard is trying to get in the way. .Because of this personal dispute, we could lose 10 years of work,. said Mr. Papin, who runs Châau Pierre-Bise, which also makes excellent Quarts-de-Chaume, though in a style that is very different from those of Domaine des Baumard. While Mr. Baumard.s wines display a shimmering elegance and remarkable purity of fruit, Mr. Papin.s Quarts-de-Chaume is subtle and complex. While Mr. Baumard eschews the use of wood barrels, Mr. Papin.s Quarts-de-Chaume is aged in oak and shows a hint of the nutty flavor that comes from exposure to oxygen. Yet both producers. wines demonstrate the perfect adaptability of the chenin blanc variety to the making of sweet wine, the only kind that is permitted under the Quarts-de-Chaume label. This is a variety whose delicate fruit and lacy acidity perfectly balance the sugar, producing a sweet wine as bracing and electric as a winter sunset in these vineyards. Sweet wines, not just those from the Loire, have fallen out of favor with consumers. One reason is the low quality of some examples of the genre. In decades past, sweet wine often meant cheap, industrially produced sugar water. Mr. Papin said the proposed new rules for Quarts-de-Chaume would send an important message to consumers and producers alike, ensuring that terroir-style winemaking, rather than mass production, prevails. This is a legitimate point. The Loire is a region where industrial practices, including mechanized harvesting and the use of herbicides, pesticides and other chemicals, remain widespread. Yet it also seems strange to penalize Domaine des Baumard; its wines are standard-bearers not just for Quarts-de-Chaume but for the entire Loire. This is not the only dispute over vineyard classifications in France, where considerable amounts of pride and money ride on the allocation of labels like grand cru and premier cru. Recent reviews of two Bordeaux classifications . the grands crus of Saint-Éilion and the Crus Bourgeois of the Medoc region . resulted in extensive legal wrangling. But the battle in Quarts-de-Chaume could have broader implications, potentially determining the fate of other Loire Valley vineyards with aspirations to grand cru or premier cru status. These could include Bonnezeaux, just down the road from Quarts-de-Chaume, which also produces sweet wine, as well as several vineyards within the Savenniès appellation, where mostly dry whites are made. Other growers in Quarts-de-Chaume seem to support the plan to create the classification system, despite a few reservations. Given the difficulty of selling sweet wine, Jo Pithon of Domaine Pithon-Pailléxpressed disappointment that the grand cru and premier cru designations would not be permitted for dry wines. .It.s essential to recognize the value of this terroir,. he said, but added: .I think what.s most important is the quality of what.s in the glass, whether it.s called grand cru, premier cru or whatever.. 50 Hectares and a Duel 50 hectares and a duel (NOTE Prices are in Euros. Today, $1 = 0.755 Euros. One Euro = $1.32) Quarts-de-Chaume is an enclave within the larger Coteaux-du-Layon appellation. All the wines bottled under these names are sweet. The wines of Quarts-de-Chaume tend to be more concentrated, complex and expensive than those from the Coteaux-du-Layon. Quarts-de-Chaume 2007 Domaine des Baumard. Deep yellow, with a slight tinge of lime. Pear, green apple and some tropical fruit. Concentrated and intense, but crystalline and lively. About .45 per bottle. 2010 Châau Pierre-Bise. Lovely gold color. Concentrated and complex, from very low yields. Notes of honey and pine nuts. About .25 per half-liter bottle. 2005 Châau de Suronde. Considerable oxidation gives it the deep amber color and the almond and hazelnut flavors of tawny Port. Tasty, if you like that sort of thing. About .35 per half-liter bottle. Coteaux-du-Layon 2010 Belargus des Treilles, Pithon-PailléFrom a plot with volcanic soil. Open, rich and delicious, with peach and apricot fruit, some herbal notes and a long, lingering finish. Around .35 per 375-ml bottle. 2005 Les Bruandiès, Patrick Baudouin. Elegant, balanced and dangerously, mouth-wateringly drinkable. Not overly exuberant or fruity, but spicy and complex. Around .30. 2010 Clos de l.Éu. Fresh and smooth. Excellent value, considering the amount of work and the low yields required to make sweet wine of this quality. About .12. -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 * * james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *