French don't want US wines with Chateau or Clos sold in EU

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SteveTimko

Steve Timko
 

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BRUSSELS (AP) — Drinking a Bordeaux wine from a "chateau" is as French as swigging Kentucky bourbon is American. But now tempers are flaring across the vineyards of France. The United States wants to sell some of its wines in the European Union with — sacrilege — a "chateau" or "clos" label.
 
I don't think they're going far enough. Need to purge those English/Irish and German names for French wines, too, like Rothschild, Barton, Lynch-Bages, Talbot, Palmer, Riesling, Gewurztraminer (trying to hide under a frenchified spelling), etc. Maybe assign all wine names to the Académie Française to decide what is permissible and what is not. That'll show them!
 
originally posted by SteveTimko:
Drinking a Bordeaux wine from a "chateau" is as French as swigging Kentucky bourbon is American.
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Hmm, we have a problem here, too. Bourbon is the name of French kings. Better call it Kentucky whiskey, no?
 
In the Washinnton Post story on this topic ("‘Chateau’ isn’t made in America, French vintners say"), while referring to the 30 chateaux owned by the Chinese, they write "The most recent was Chateau Bellefont-Belcier, a prestigious first growth gobbled up by a rare metals tycoon."

Where the fuck was I? How come I didn't get the memo that Bellefont-Belcier had been elevated to first growth status? The last I'd heard, even Ausone and Petrus were bridesmaids waiting at the alter to be bestowed such vinous epaulets, and here I read the Bellefont-Belcier has edged them by a nose to acquire permission to rub shoulders with Lafite, Latour, Mouton, Haut-Brion, and other Rudy-worthy brands? I mean, they're probably nice people, but they haven't even been Parkerized, seeing as how their scores are kind of in the solid-90s range. And Allen Meadows hasn't deigned to taste them, and Lloyd (the Loire Schnauzer) could NOT have understood them in the first place, so how in the name of sweet baby Jesus do they get elevated to FIRST FUCKING GROWTH level? Could the writer have thought that "Premier Cru" translates to "FIRST FUCKING GROWTH"? That seems more likely. Or maybe the Chinese have bought so much property in Bordeaux that it's not about what happened in 1865 as much as it is about what the Chinese have bought since 1995.

And what is this "Chateau Gevrey" they refer to? is it next to "Chateaux Bonjour Chat"? Do they own the vaunted (not to mention walled) "Clos du Gerald Lewis"?

-Eden (it's all pretty nutty to me)
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
In the Washinnton Post story on this topic ("‘Chateau’ isn’t made in America, French vintners say"), while referring to the 30 chateaux owned by the Chinese, they write "The most recent was Chateau Bellefont-Belcier, a prestigious first growth gobbled up by a rare metals tycoon."

Where the fuck was I? How come I didn't get the memo that Bellefont-Belcier had been elevated to first growth status? The last I'd heard, even Ausone and Petrus were bridesmaids waiting at the alter to be bestowed such vinous epaulets, and here I read the Bellefont-Belcier has edged them by a nose to acquire permission to rub shoulders with Lafite, Latour, Mouton, Haut-Brion, and other Rudy-worthy brands? I mean, they're probably nice people, but they haven't even been Parkerized, seeing as how their scores are kind of in the solid-90s range. And Allen Meadows hasn't deigned to taste them, and Lloyd (the Loire Schnauzer) could NOT have understood them in the first place, so how in the name of sweet baby Jesus do they get elevated to FIRST FUCKING GROWTH level? Could the writer have thought that "Premier Cru" translates to "FIRST FUCKING GROWTH"? That seems more likely. Or maybe the Chinese have bought so much property in Bordeaux that it's not about what happened in 1865 as much as it is about what the Chinese have bought since 1995.

And what is this "Chateau Gevrey" they refer to? is it next to "Chateaux Bonjour Chat"? Do they own the vaunted (not to mention walled) "Clos du Gerald Lewis"?

-Eden (it's all pretty nutty to me)
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Genius. Pure Genius. Reminds me I need to buy some Hello Kitty Bordeaux bowls.
 
originally posted by kirk wallace:
Reminds me I need to buy some Hello Kitty Bordeaux bowls.
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Is that the one with the timer and the revolving top so kitty can't drink red and white one after another too quickly?
 
It's up there with the Tequila producers trying to prevent anyone from using the word agave for the liquor made from agave.
 
The French tend to get very uptight about things like this. When it concerns foreign use of French geographical indicators, like Champagne and Chablis, I am with them, but when it comes to "chateau" I think that they vastly overstate the potential harm.

To start with, many foreign wineries have used "chateau" in the past but as self-confidence in the local product grows indigenous names are preferred and I believe that in some cases "chateau", e.g. Tahbilk, has been dropped.

I think that it is highly unlikely that European consumers will confuse, say, a plonky commercial US brand with "chateau" in its name with the "real thing" from France, provided that they give a cursory glance at the AOP information on the label.

Additionally, for the linguistically aware, there is a visible difference between "ch“teau" and "chateau". I am willing to bet than 99.9% of, say, US blenders tempted to use the word will omit the circumflex. So as a 0.01% precaution, why not just outlaw the use of "ch“teau" or "CHÂTEAU" (written with the circumflex) by foreign wines?

Of course, a lot of French omit accents when words are written in capitals, but the Académie Française says that this is a fault, so they should not object to being obliged to write their own language correctly.

PS I note that the circumflex is such an obscure notion, that this site cannot cope with it on small letters.
 
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