A French winemaker whose wines are illegal in his country

Winemaker Maxime Chapoutier would be arrested if he tried to sell his two latest wines in his native France.

“There will probably be an outrage over these wines in France, and that would be a good thing,” he says. “Sometimes you have to be provocative to bring about change.”

The two bottles in question, one white and one red, would be illegal in France because they are made from a blend of French and Australian base wines.

According to French and European Union law, it is forbidden to make wine that combines EU and non-EU fruit. In particular, in France, the authorities take such things very seriously.

The French wine industry has a famous word called “Terrary”, which covers all the environmental factors that affect the vines that grow in the vineyard, such soil, climate and elevation. As a result, wines from a specific place are held in respect.

Add in a strict appellation or classification system for France’s wine regions, and the thought of mixing French and Australian wine to create a global hybrid horrifies many French wine lovers.

And yet Maxime has done just that, all thanks to one word – Brexit.

While it can’t sell the two wines in the EU, it can do so in the UK if London no longer has to follow food and drink rules set by Brussels.

Maksim created wines in partnership with the UK online store The Wine Society, where they are called hemispheres red and hemispheres white. The red is made from Syrah grapes, or Shiraz as they are known in Australia, while the white is a blend of the Marsan and Vignier varieties.

The Australian red and white wine components are sent to the UK where they are blended with wine from the northern Rhône and Roussillon regions before being bottled.

Maxime, who works for his family’s famous wine company based in the Rhône, says that while he respects France’s emphasis on terroir, there should be room for global blends.

“Chapoutier has been making wine for over 200 years, very fast and biodynamically,” he says. “But more and more people are returning to French wines because they don’t understand the complex rules of the appellation.

“We have to adapt to consumers and make wines more accessible, which international blends can help. Maybe the EU law will change. It’s also more environmentally friendly to send wine from Australia to Europe, because you don’t have the weight of all the glass bottles.”

Another wine company that makes wines by combining grapes from two continents is the Australian firm Penfolds. He sells reds made from both Australian and California grapes, and others that blend Australian and French. Again, they can’t be sold in the EU, but they can in the UK, US, Australia and elsewhere.

Penfolds refers to these blends as “wines of the world” and says they “possess an otherness that can best be described as worldly.” Whatever that means.

Not surprisingly, some more traditional winemakers are not in favor of this development. One such person is Jas Lebedz, an independent winemaker based in Germany.

While the bicontinental blends from Chapoutier and Penfolds are made with care from quality grapes, and priced accordingly, she fears that if the trend grows, it will be much cheaper, low-end that will be sold.

“I believe that in such species there would be nothing left of the therapist, even before they left their continent,” she says. “These wines have seen only machine work, heavy additions to keep them pure, and are made to be easy drinking for the masses.

“Why might consumers be more demanding? Consumers are crazy crazy.”

Master of Wine (MW) Master of Wine (MW), also Sniffy, Peter Richards. “The idea of ​​a perfect wine pairing is not something I find outrageous in itself,” he says. “My concern is more that it’s about creating novelty for novelty’s sake.”

His wife, Susie Barry, who is also a MW, adds: “I remain convinced that a wine made from a combination of grapes from different countries can be excellent in terms of taste.”

On the contrary, wine writer Jamie Goode says that developing the wine of two continents is “actually a very fun idea”.

“If the wines are good and well made from good vineyard sites – not just by trickery, mixing cheap bulk wines and then slapping on a big stock on the wine – then it’s pretty interesting.

“The basic foundation for great wine is the concept of terroir – that wines come from a place and their flavor expresses that place in unique ways. But not all wines have to be terroir wines, and there is a place for those wines.

“In a way, there’s a lot of skill involved in blending the right wines to create something interesting from such different places.”

Pierre Mansour, head of purchasing for the wine society, says he and his colleagues came up with the idea of ​​creating two wines made from grapes from different continents as part of the company’s 150th anniversary.

“We thought about the future of wine, and we wanted to do something innovative. In the end, we thought that one area of ​​innovation is mixed, creating a wine that can mitigate the impact of the climate in a certain country.

“And from a carbon emission point of view, it’s more environmentally friendly to ship wine in bulk from Australia to the UK. But at the same time, we’ve been waiting for the wine.”

“So we approached Chapoutier thinking they might say, ‘You’re crazy, how dare you insult us,’ but they were wonderful. They were really enthusiastic.”