Book review: Vinobusiness

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AlexR
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Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by AlexR »

I read a book called Vinobusiness, by Isabelle Saporta this past weekend.
It was just been published by Albin Michel and exists only in French. It costs 19 euros.
The thesis of the book is that there is something rotten in the state of France, especially in Bordeaux and Champagne…

It is important to say at the outset that the author set out to write an exposé and clearly has an axe to grind. The person who sets out to seek dirt usually finds it… As for my own bias, I live in Bordeaux and think it is the best wine in the world (pinotphiles, need read no further). But I am not connected with the wine business except peripherally.

A bit like the 2013 vintage, Vinobusiness can be said to be uneven. It is a quick read, and seems more like an extended magazine article than a book. The polemical nature can be ridiculous at times - as though we didn’t know that the owners of prestigious châteaux were part of a privileged social class, and that life isn’t fair… Many of the comments are catty and petty, such as the way people dress. While it is hardly a must for anyone’s wine book library, the book does touch on several points worth raising.

These involving investigative reporting (with varying degrees of professionalism) on the Saint-Emilion classification, the supposed land grab in Pomerol by the Moueix family, and the (mis)appropriation of planting rights in Champagne. The rest of the book holds together rather poorly.

The author is French, and thus should know better than to equate Bordeaux with just the great growths (only 5% of production!). And yet, this is all she speaks about, in a section on Bordeaux that easily takes up two thirds of the book. Of course, few of the people she writes about have any redeeming qualities… Public Enemy Number one is Hubert de Boüard de la Forest, co-owner of Châteu Angélus. While many of the comments the author makes about him are bitchy and shallow (she makes fun of his name several times, and calls him the “Sarkozy of the Vines”), she is dead right in criticizing the man’s manipulation of the most recent classification in Saint-Emilion. De Boüard should never have been involved as he was in establishing this since his own wine, Château Angélus, was concerned – and ended up being promoted… In short, he was both judge and jury, and stood to earn a great deal of money by being promoted (Saporta figures going from “B” to “A” immediately put about 2 million euros in his pocket). Furthermore, de Boüard is a consultant to a host of other estates. The book says that he told potential clients he was able to pull strings to promote them to grand cru status. That is a very serious accusation, and explains why de Boüard suing the author.

The criteria for the Saint-Emilion classification are roundly criticized – as they should be. For instance, quality as perceived during blind tastings counts for 50% of the total score for the grands crus classés, but just 30% for the premiers crus classés. This is absurd as are the points given – or deducted – according to whether the estate has a parking lot… The 2012 classification is being once again attacked in court. If any of the litigants win, that will surely be the definitive end of it.

Isabelle Saporta denounces the bling-bling side of Bordeaux. She has a point. I visited three new cellars in Saint-Emilion last week: La Dominique, Angélus, and Pavie, all monuments to the male ego. Pavie is the most impressive – and the most controversial. It is referred to as “Las Vegas” by the locals. It has the feel of a luxury hotel rather than a wine cellar and there is, sadly, something soul-less and antiseptic about it despite the millions that were spent. I told a woman who welcomed me at the château that a Burgundian vigneron would have very conflicting sentiments: admiration and a certain amount of jealousy, but also a feeling of disgust at the excessiveness of it all.




The author of a previous muckraking book on agriculture, Isabelle Saporta goes out on a limb when she attacks the use of pesticides by winegrowers. This is not really the subject of her book, although here criticism of fat subsidies received from the French government and the European Union by very wealthy estates is more to the point. The rotten influence of money is one of the book’s leitmotifs. But she is barking up the wrong tree when she implies that big companies or multinational groups are incompatible with making fine wine. She is also too stuck on a romantic notion of wine production and is easily scandalized by things she shouldn’t be. Example: her cynical description, tainted with envy, of the Fête de la Fleur, an important social occasion for the wine trade and their guests.

The book features a great deal of gossip and, despite footnotes, a number of undisclosed and unsubstantiated sources.

The Parker/Rolland syndrome is once again explored. Curiously though, the man from Monkton is mostly let off the hook. Not so for the INAO, which is lambasted and portrayed as totally subservient to commercial considerations seeing as the board members are also in the very industry they are meant to regulate (much like the American financial sector). The example of what is happening in Pomerol is instructive. I had heard that the INAO was forcing estates in Pomerol, however small, to have their own cellars – even if many growers have cellars in a neighboring appellation and don’t have the room or the money to build a cellar on their 2 or 3-hectare estates. Pomerol producers appealed twice to the courts to rescind this obligation, and won both times. But, in the end, they will have to comply in the next decade. This “necessity” was backed by the winegrower’s association, in which the firm of J.P. Moueix plays a major role. Saporta says that the association was manipulated so that producers down the line will decide to sell rather than go to the expense and bother of building a new cellar for a postage stamp size vineyard – at which time, Moueix will be there waiting, with an open checkbook… The charge, once again, is serious. I do not know to what extent it is true, or if Moueix, like de Boüard, will take the author to court. As for legal proceedings, de Boüard will also be tried in criminal court for prise illégale d’intérêts, or illegal taking of interest for his role in the classification and the promotion of his own wine.
Of course, most lovers of traditional Bordeaux will never consider Angélus and Pavie on an equal footing with Ausone and Cheval Blanc, whatever the classification says.
While most of the rottenness, supposed or real, in Vinobusiness takes place in Bordeaux, there is also a section on Champagne. This deals primarily with the enormous extension of the appellation due to take place (with some land, apparently far better suited to growing wheat than vines…) in the coming years and the behind-the-scenes jockeying by the négociants, especially Vranken.

Vinobusiness picks up where Mondovino left off. Indeed, Isabelle Saporta intends to make a film based on her book later this year… Her writing is jaundiced and lacks focus but, like Mondovino, it is probably healthy for someone to set the cat among the pigeons from time to time…

Best regards,
Alex R.
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RDD
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by RDD »

Do you enjoy Angélus?
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AlexR
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by AlexR »

No.

I will never forget. It was en primeur week in 2010. Somone I met said they had been there and tasted the wine. It was OK, but "a little strong", and that it had weighed in at 15.5% alc./vol.
I found this hard to believe. So I called the château. Yup, they were indeed at 15.5.
Yikes, who wants to drink Bordeaux that strong?

I have had several recent vintages and found them too topheavy. Not elegant enough.

I tasted the 2013 last week.
My notes say:
Nose: plum aromas and alcohol, fairly mute.
Palate: big, meaty, mouth-filling texture. Definitely acidic. Vigorous and virile, but not elegant. Minty, hot finish.

I do not like big bruisers. To me, the best word to describe any Bordeaux is elegance - which is not Angélus's strong suit.

Heck, if I want a big wine, I probably want to go to wines from other appellations.

I defy anyone to taste Angélus and Cheval Blanc side by side and find that the former is in the same league...

Best regards,
Alex R.
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RDD
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by RDD »

I've enjoyed 1989 and 1990 many times.
Maybe the style has changed over time.
Cheval Blanc is so unique with the high percentage of Cabernet Franc and Merlot it's hard to compare with anything. Stands alone.
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AlexR
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by AlexR »

My judgement was perhpas a little excessive...

I, too, have enjoyed older vintages of Angélus.

As you know, there was a whole movement starting in the 1990s towards more extracted, oaky wines, ones that are called "Parkerized". I think it is fair to say that Angélus jumped on the bandwagon.
They benefitted handsomely from this, but have alienated many of us who prefer traditional Bordeaux.
By the way, it's not just old farts who like the latter. I was suprised to see a young man shake his head when tasting one wine last week and saying "too modern"!!!

All the best,
Alex
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Comte Flaneur
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by Comte Flaneur »

It's a shame when books like that are written in a sloppy fashion. Especially given that there is usually no smoke without fire.

I agree that it was a sad day when Angelus and Pavie got promoted to equal status with Ausone and Cheval Blanc. I have really disliked all the Perse Pavies I have tried and would say that Angelus does not have the class of Ausone and Cheval Blanc. And going for more power and extract only serves to attenuate the difference in class.

In my opinion the best vintages of Angelus were 1988 through 1990, when Rolland was brought in to boost up an under-performing estate. I haven't liked any since then and sold my 94 s and 96 s at top dollar prices. However even with the 1989, a few of which I recently acquired, I have my doubts. It is explosive at the front end but somewhat lacking at the backend.

Alex you mentioned you like 2013 Figeac. Did Michel Rolland make that wine? Because if he did, and you liked it, there is hope.
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RDD
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by RDD »

Comte Flaneur wrote:.......
Alex you mentioned you like 2013 Figeac. Did Michel Rolland make that wine? Because if he did, and you liked it, there is hope.

http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/0 ... r-rolland/
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AlexR
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

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Tom In DC
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by Tom In DC »

If a parking lot raises the standing of a French chateau, the France can no longer claim the moral high ground in the race to be most ecological. Maryland moves ahead based on our "rain tax", where a parking lot (or indeed, anything other than bare land) increases an owner's property tax due to the runoff that results during a storm.
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by JimHow »

Yeah, I pay $12.50 every quarter for my "rain tax." <rolls eyes>
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Tom In DC
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by Tom In DC »

Jimmy, yours is more likely a snow tax!
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Rudi Finkler
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Re: Book review: Vinobusiness

Post by Rudi Finkler »

Bordeaux on the way to Disneyland, Mickey Mouse wines included... :-)
Thanks for the review, Alex!
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