Socialism run amok!

[Thraz]

I'm not against a labeling system, but I have three objections to the French one. One is that the information on the label is often not enough for producers to market a specific angle of their wine. Yes, if the wine is from, say, St. Emilion, it has to meet certain criteria. However, these are elastic as far as the grape mix is concerned - you know there is a relatively big portion of merlot, but that's it. If you want to market your St. Emilion as being a merlot-cabernet franc mix (for any reason), you're out of luck. The second one is that innovation is stifled - witness the Loire syrah situation. The third one is that a government runs it. Let private players come in, or competing systems develop, the one (or several) that the market likes best will win. I'm continually amazed at the support the system gets in France. If it's such a great idea, why have they not tried to apply it with the same strict constraints to any other sector? How about an AOC for cars, or for perfume, or - you name it? Would that help these sectors? I have to wonder why wine should be the only product so rigidly codified. After all, it's still just wine. There is an AOC system coming up for various European foods now, e.g. cheeses known for their particular local origin, but so far that has only formalized well-known products and does not at all have the same constraints (for instance, it's allowed to produce goat cheese in Brie - just don't call it brie cheese). Also, it's too young to know the negative consequences.

As for the US system, I would not strengthen it either. If wineries want to advertise 100% chardonnay, I assume they are allowed to. If they don't, it's probably only because they have not felt the marketing need to do it. There are things that I would like to see on some American bottles, but it's just me, and I don't expect the rest of the world to adpat to me - unlike the French civil service apparently (have I mentioned I'm French?).