|
 When José Tomás Gillet, Export Manager Asia for Cono Sur, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Concha y Toro in Chile came to India last month on a promotional tour with its distributor Sula Selections, he conducted an exclusive tasting session at the Chilean Embassy in collaboration with Pro-Chile in the presence of the Ambassador of Chile, H.E. Andres Barbe. When he said that last year their label ‘Bicicleta’ being marketed in India by Sula was selected as the official wine of ‘Tour de France’ Ambassador Barbe said it was a matter of an honour because for French to accept Chilean wine for a French event was not an easy task and it reflected on how much they cared for quality and loved Cono Sur.
José Tomás Gillet of Cono Sur from Chile
As it turns out the winemakers in the Aude area of Languedoc-Roussillon do not love Cono Sur or any foreign wines and were in fact very angry that the competition organizers chose a foreign wine partner, calling the deal ‘absurd’. In fact, Frédéric Rouanet, president of the Aude winemakers’ union- président des Vignerons de l’Aude, said that they planned to disrupt the Tour when it passed between Carcassonne and Montpellier through the heart of Languedoc. ‘We intend to block the Tour de France at strategic steps if a French wine is not chosen to represent this cycling event, the emblem of France,’ he is reported to have told Decanter.
Although the Chilean deal was signed in early 2015, Rouanet had said a couple of months ago that the union became aware of it ‘only now’ via the national press. The organizers claim that no one from France came forward when they were looking for sponsors but Rouanet said, ‘A lot of winemakers are ready to jump in to promote French wine.’
Andrew Jefford, a highly regarded journalist with Decanter (his weekly column Jefford on Monday is serious commentary on the current happenings in the wine industry and is must-read) and who was a fellow judge at Decanter Asia Wine Awards a couple of years ago, had then said it was, ‘Childish, hilarious – but true.’ But he had also blamed it on media culture for reporting matters of not much relevance except to create sensationalism. Those who watch or know about our own Prime Time TV Show in India by Arnab Goswami on ‘Times Now’ would immediately understand what he means.
‘In part, of course, all of this underlines the extraordinary deformation of reality brought about in our lives by internet media culture. The event is of no significance whatsoever to French wine at large, other than for its media impact: the photographs and messages it sends around the world. In this sense, the media is a powerfully anti-democratic tool, since it assigns an unwarranted importance to those who shout loudest, or who commit eye-catching illegal acts or acts of violence,’ he wrote in his Column last month on April 16 .
In the Tour de France case, the threats and remarks of Rouanet were widely reported. Yet the Tour de France is also going through South West France, where Cahors’ Honorary President Jean-Marie Sigaud (who is also a grower in Aude) welcomed it for the chance it would give to communicate positive messages about the region and its wines. ‘We live in a globalised world,’ he said. ‘There is no legal means to stop anyone choosing a sponsor. I respect the position of the Audois growers, but this fight doesn’t belong in this epoch.’ Of course, those remarks went fairly un-noticed by media, he rues.
Hopefully Happy Ending
 Organizers of the Tour de France 2016 have now reportedly made a promotional deal with winemakers in order to avoid a threatened blockade of the annual cycling race. The deal has been struck to end the stand-off, following meetings with Frédéric Rouanet with the concerned parties. The Agreement offers French winemakers the chance to create a flag for French wine, in addition to separate flags for regional products. ‘With this proposition, we will not need to block the Tour de France and we know that the Tour de France will be associated with French wine this year,’ confirms Rouanet reportedly
Sponsorship only outside France
Ironically, Cono Sur’s Bicicleta can only be promoted at Tour de France stages outside of France – this year Spain, Switzerland and Andorra – because of French restrictions on promoting alcoholic drinks at sporting events. France’s draconian Evin’s Law on alcohol marketing means that no wine brand can be promoted during sports events in the country.
Languedoc-Roussillon is home to the militant winemaker group CRAV-regional winemakers ’ action committee. They are known to have balaclava-clad members intermittently attacked foreign wine installations in the area over the past few decades, the latest episode being their emptying truck-loads of containers filled with Spanish bulk wine, on the roadside, a while back. They remind one of intolerant and uncontrollable goons from Shiv Sena, who often threaten disrupting India-Pakistan cricket matches and on one occasion, ruined the pitch and the cricket ground in Mumbai days before the match making the organizers look for an alternate venue.
The organizers and Concha y Toro, producers of Cono Sur Bicicleta wine labels can now heave a sigh of relief
Subhash Arora
|