Wine Industry Report

René Renou has died.

The President of the INAO has been one of the few responsible for viticulture in France in recent decades who acted with conviction to reinvigorate the system of Appellation Controlée and reform the production of wines in France.

René Renou had made a simple observation: by according AOC status to anyone and any wine, the system was killing the goose that laid the golden egg and blocking all possibility of adapting itself to the new markets today. Today the AOC label is no longer a gauge of confidence for a consumer, either in France or abroad, and the popular brands of the 50s are still looking for their modern successors whilst Gallo, Penfolds and Constellation are present in all the markets around the world.

With his good sense and generosity, Renou knew how to avoid a complete reassessment of the system which would have kicked out of touch many producers and even more wines. Instead of getting mired in the details he preferred to pick up the best, by imagining Appellations of « excellence », in fact following the original spirit of the original classifications. The other AOC wines, would have benefitted from more pliant regulations and thus better adapted to the market. Finally, a classification closer to that of the AVA (American viticultural areas) in the USA, would offer producers the opportunity to put details of varietal, vintage and region. Renou brought a double solution which gave everyone a clear choice between two very different concepts but which were easily understood by the consumer and the different markets. And in so doing revitalised in one stroke the notion of Appellation for the new century of wine producers and public alike. It was for this that BettaneDesseauve named him Man of the Year in 2005.

Even if most of the French and international press saluted his fight as being courageous and necessary, the wine trade tried to bury the project. Good producers, natural pillars of his projected revitalised Appellations, showed little enthusiasm: witness to the apathy which has long characterised the debate on collective action. Many organisations gave little support preferring to protect their local interests and obvious significant weaknesses. Renou had not even started his fight against this hypocrisy.

Someone else may, perhaps, complete the task. The history of professional wine organisations in France show only too clearly that men such as Renou are rare and that protected interests and inertia favour the election of a candidate who has neither the taste for nor the will to carry off such an undertaking. But, René Renou, consumed by his immense mission, merits a successor at the highest level.

He leaves a wife and son who continue to manage his own Domaine de Bonnezeaux to which he was so attached.

MB, TD & FC