French Varietals Fight Back: The Revolution in the Vin de Pay d'Oc

Abstract

There has been a revolution in the winemaking and marketing of the country wines of southern France in the Languedoc‐Roussillon — the Vins de Pays d'Oc. This revolution has been founded on premium varietal wines and exploited modern techniques of vinification and marketing, which have drawn heavily on the experiences of the so‐called ‘New World.’ These new wines have successfully penetrated export markets, particularly the UK. Such developments, however, have attracted controversy, being criticised for encouraging the production of homogeneous, geographically inert, formulaic wines from well established rather than local grape varieties. However, a number of ventures are now showing increased recognition of local varieties and geographies in their winemaking and it is expected that such developments will continue. Moreover it is argued that the introduction of modern techniques in vinification and marketing, far from having a detrimental effect, have been of great benefit to the region.

Citation

Lee Williams, J. (1995), "French Varietals Fight Back: The Revolution in the Vin de Pay d'Oc", International Journal of Wine Marketing, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 5-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb008645