Benjamin Darnault is a wine consultant and technician who follows several different projects in the region. And he’s just released two new wines. The wines are good examples of the amazing value you can find in the Languedoc Roussillon, and what’s more, the story behind these wines provides an inspiring model for other grape growers and winemakers in the region who want to redefine the value of their grapes.
You see, the way cooperatives historically value grapes encourages grape growers toward bulk production. The viticulteur is paid by the kilo or per hectolitre. There are certain quality benchmarks, and growers can often sign up for a more demanding “cahier de charge” so that they will be paid MORE by the kilo or hectoliter. But the goal is still to hit certain quantitative benchmarks because you’re being paid for volume. A lot of the best parcels are actually devalued by this system because they produce less fruit. Quality often plays second fiddle to quantity.
But out of this tragedy comes great hope. Benjamin Darnault looks for the parcels that are undervalued by the co-op. He says that these parcels create a quality of grape that would be much more valuable if separated and vinified as a small-production wine. Cooperatives are good at volume, but (save for a few exceptions) they don’t necessarily know what to do with their best parcels. These parcels can make several thousands of bottles of great wine if kept separate, but some Co-ops can’t even fill the pipes with that small an amount.
So Ben creates value by keeping these wines separate. And he’s been successful, finding a large amount of support from the community at Naked Wines who actually financed this first release (a story worth an entire post). It’s all very interesting and I hope you enjoy the video.
I don’t want to pretend that this is revolutionary. Co-ops very commonly try to do an “haut de gamme”. A lot of growers try to make a bit of wine on their own while selling the bulk of their production to the cooperatif. But at the same time, something feels very unique about this story. Maybe it’s the way Ben is interacting with his UK importer Naked. The wine is sold all the way to final customers before he’s ever bottled it. That’s impressive! It gives you a lot of hope for some of the wine communities around here that are having trouble making ends meet. Maybe they can all adopt this sort of model one day.
Here’s the video introduction on Naked’s site:
Wines:
Benjamin Darnault 2009, Benjamin Darnault, AOC Minervois
Benjamin Darnault Vielle Reserve 2008, Benjamin Darnault, AOC Minervois la Liviniere
Lots of things going on in the Languedoc of late. A lot of good videos in queue, but you’re going to have to wait a bit more. In the meantime, I found this post from Lar Veale’s site Sour Grapes. On a recent visit to the region sponsored by Chateau Pennautier he made a video that describes the qualities of the terroir in the Cabardes.
Watching this, you can understand how the Cabardès earned a spot in the Grands Vins du Languedoc. Although I don’t know if the climate here is quite as lush as the Pennautier lawn makes us out to be, provoking Lar to compare our soil to the green glens of Ireland. But either way, the sentiment is good and you can tell that the terroir has really inspired him on his visit.
The Master of Wine Symposium took place in Bordeaux this past June, but there was a very important Languedoc connection. The keynote speech was delivered by renowned advertising expert, Sir John Hegarty who now owns a winery in the Languedoc. So as a small wink, I wanted to share that every region in France looks to the innovators who call the Languedoc home.
Here’s the video of Hegarty’s enlightening presentation in which he shares a lot of great views on the forces that shape modern economics and the wine world specifically. He’s also got a very catchy bit of advice: lose the mystery, keep the magic. If you have an hour, watch the video because it’s quality.
Otherwise, it’s tough to summarize. I can just pick out a few of my favorite points:
Consider your customers like an audience that wants to be entertained
Don’t make labeling and marketing decisions out of some misplaced sense of tradition/mystery
Do things for your audience’s sake and they will appreciate that devotion
Wine should not only be marketed as a companion to food
But re-reading this list, I feel that it really cheapens the wealth of information in the speech. Hegarty manages to deliver succinct and entertaining explanations of complicated changes in marketing, globalization, technology, and more… and you should really just watch the video.
This “viewed from outside”-perspective will be further investigated when I visit Domaine Hegarty Chamans later this year. And my UK readers will be able to catch John’s wines (and I think he’ll be there too) at the Languedoc Outsider Tasting this November.
And because I’m an advertisement-nerd, here is my favorite commercial that I didn’t realize was done by Hegarty’s firm until earlier today. Yes that’s the guy from Train Spotting (Robert Carlyle). I think what’s impressive is that I don’t really love the story of Johnny Walker. I think it’s sort of a story about globalization and industrialization of drink… but the ad is so powerful that I enjoy the journey anyway. And I think of Robert Carlyle throwing things off camera whenever I see Johnny Walker in a store.
This one too for Axe, which is …uh… different in mood.
So this list is much much longer. And it’s actually pretty hard to find people. . . so I’m going to publish it in multiple parts. Here is the first part.
I included wineries, vineyards, negociants, grape growers, etc. Anybody who presents themselves as a producer and could presumably prove it with tax receipts or something.
Please feel free (Obliged even) to email me to add more to this list or leave a comment at the bottom of this page with a link to the facebook page you’d like to add. And while you’re doing me favors, somebody needs to tell Georges Frêche that he can’t abandon his facebook page just because he was re-elected. Obama is still emailing me like DAILY.
English | Ryan O'Connell August 21, 2010 | 
Comments (3) 
But either way, the sentiment is good and you can tell that the terroir has really inspired him on his visit.
