“Joe, Ryan and I do everything with our hearts, hands and minds here. Any way that you can contribute, you are welcome to do.”

Hello to all! My name is Amber, and I’m a new face here at O’Vineyards this summer. The above quote is my job description, and a very stimulating one at that. As many of you know, Ryan is working in Napa Valley, and I’ll be blogging in his place for the next several weeks.

By way of introduction, I am a friend of Ryan’s from our college years at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. I grew up in the New Orleans area until I spent my junior year abroad studying in Paris in 2006. I’ve more or less lived in Paris since then, whether for studies or work–but always for play. I love French culture, especially the food and wine. (I just might fit in around here…)

I just arrived at O’Vineyards yesterday, meaning I missed the annual Bastille Day fireworks show over Carcassonne. Zut alors! Luckily, my parents and I were in town for this incredible event back in 2011. My family happened to be the first official guests (in other words, guinea pigs) for the beautiful, newly built bed and breakfast.

I am thrilled to be here in Villemoustaussou to lend a hand to Liz and Joe at the vineyard and bed and breakfast this summer. I am very thankful for this opportunity to learn more about the way things work at O’Vineyards–and I will be sure to keep y’all posted on all the exciting developments during my stay.

Christophe Juarez spoke at the Université de la Vigne et du Vin in 2011 in Ferrals les Corbieres.  This is a synopsis of his lecture and my reaction to what he’s saying.  This is one post in an ongoing series about the Universite de la Vigne et du Vin.

Christophe Juarez, France, ton vin est dans le rouge – Adapting to the modern wine world

Juarez enumerates many changes in wine consumption that result in a need for change in wine production or at least wine marketing. In many ways, his presentation served as a counter point to Jacky Rigaux‘s.  While Jacky was a bit academic and high minded in his search for what a winemaker ought to do,  Juarez focused on what a winemaker has to do. It’s a much more pragmatic outlook.  Although it’s still a bit simplistic.  But sometimes a message has to be simplified to be conveyed.

Where Rigaux said “Cepage is a first name while terroir is a family name,” Juarez will say “Cepage is unavoidable.”  We can have cute witty notions about how terroir is more important than grape variety (I feel this is true), but ultimately, most new world wine drinkers want to know the variety and care much more about that than where the wine is from.

Juarez doesn’t deny the marketing potential of place.  In fact, he concedes that France is a huge selling point.  People love France.  But he also notes that having too many regions spoils the pot.  If most people only remember a dozen different wine brands, is there place in the market for somewhat obscure AOCs?  If there will only be a dozen denominations in the public conscience, should we spend energy on branding Corbieres, Minervois, and so on?  Or should we just focus on a bigger brand like South of France and a grape type?

Juarez will also say that the grower/author is crucial to promoting a place.  The place is only worth what it produces in his estimation, and the men and women who tend the land are key to that equation.

He also notes that brands have an advantage over individual people because brands are eternal.  Mortals will die, but brands can persist.  Brands can identify a style and go on in perpetuity.

He also warns against a “surenchere vers le haut”.  If we create high value brands hoping that they will drive the whole market forward, we might be disappointed.  For one thing, premium value brands have a hard time pulling up entry level brands.  Additionally, shifting markets and economic hardship might result in a general move toward bargain brands instead of luxury brands.

All in all, the presentation concludes that we have to create quality wine with consistency and a mastery of bottling and other technical elements.  I think the conclusion falls into the land of caricaturization.  It ends up being all about creating a reliable product that people can buy without being afraid.  I’d like to think that wine is art and that sometimes people buy bottles not knowing what to expect.  But maybe that’s impractical.  Tough questions at the Universite de la Vigne et du Vin!

France’s high speed train, the TGV, will one day carry passengers between Toulouse and Narbonne.  The line will also have a Carcassonne stop.  I’m following developments in the planning of this future train line pretty closely.  I’ve uploaded the slideshow presented to the public recently concerning potential installation sites for the new tracks around Carcassonne and the new train station as well.  Download the TGV project slideshow 21 10 2011 complete with confounding maps and bullet points. 😀

Changes required by a TGV line

Interestingly, as I’m writing this, TGV trains already pass through Carcassonne quite often.  But since the tracks aren’t set up for Grande Vitesse traffic, the trains have to run at normal speeds until they reach Montpellier.  I don’t know much about the technology here, but I’ll just say it has to do with magnets and move on. 😀

Anyway, the engineers have to lay new track suitable to the TGVs and this means they’ll have to run the new track north of Carcassonne or south of Carcassonne (going straight through the city makes no sense).  This is when winemakers start to get worried because there are lots of vines north and south of Carcassonne and we don’t want a bunch of train tracks to replace the vines we love so dearly.

From a business standpoint though, it’s pretty interesting since there are plans to build a new station.  If the TGV connects Carcassonne to the grid, it can bring a lot of tourists and business to the area.  After all the work from Bordeaux to Toulouse is done and this project connects Toulouse to Narbonne, the Carcassonne-Narbonne axis will be much closer to Aquitaine.  And I’ll have to do some math, but I think it might bring us closer to Paris too (the current fastest path to Paris is a slow train from Carcassonne to Montpellier and then TGV up to Paris)

Enough babbling!

There’s a lot of information here as the slideshow also presents all the projects from Toulouse to Narbonne.

Since my vineyard is very close to Carcassonne, slides 16-21 are of most interest to me personally.

The slide that made me panic a little

The first reason to panic is just because it looks like somebody’s planning a war strategy.  Or like a geometry textbook just threw up on a map of Carcassonne.  But we’ll try to make sense of this map.

I’ve added a little o’TGV so you can see where O’Vineyards is located.  As you can see, we’re actually inside one of those circular bubbles meant to represent places where it might make sense to put in the new train station.  And that big golden arrow running straight through us is supposed to represent the possibility of a track running to the north of Carcassonne (but not its actual placement).  The bright red arrows cutting through Villemoustaussou represent tracks that tie the new train station to the small, older train station in the center of Carcassonne (but not their actual placement).

It is important to stress a few things:

1. this is still hypothetical planning,
2. many of the arrows are symbolic representations rather than showing physical placement,
3. those enormous circles are very generously sized.

Let’s break this map down in a less panicked way.  The track has to go either north of Carcassonne or south of it.  The big green bands show the zone that is most suitable for a track.  Rather than look at the large golden arrow representing the northern line, realize that the northern line is actually a very thin track that would go anywhere within that massive green band.

There will also be a new gare.  The big green circles are supposed to represent potential sites where it might make sense to build that gare.  The actual station will be a small dot compared to the circles used to represent their potential placement sites on the map.

Also, knowledge of the terrain where my vineyard is located allows me to say that the tracks could not pass through O’Vineyards.  One one side, we’re too hilly.  On the other side, we’re very close to a village.  If the tracks run north of Carcassonne, it’s much more likely that they’ll pick one of the flatter, lower zones like the one running through Conques sur Orbiel.  With a good set of binoculars, we’d probably be able to glimpse the train behind some hills/trees as it passes in the distance.

I also think they’ll favorize one of the construction sites that is already near rails connecting to the old gare in Carcassonne.  Nobody likes to build in the jurisdiction of Batiments de France and the old gare is right next to the Canal du Midi.  The more they can use existing track, the better.  So those dastardly red arrows seem unlikely.  My money is on one of the oblong ovals that already skirts existing track.

Although, that said, I wouldn’t necessarily mind the station being built in that circle really close to O’Vineyards.  If it’s at the far end of the circle, we could get all the benefit of a nearby train station without any of the noise or visual pollution.   It’s too early in the development of this project to know how harmful/beneficial the placement will be. I’ll just have to watch carefully. In February, they’re supposed to make a decision about whether the line goes north of Carcassonne or south.  And at that time, they’ll provide more details about where exactly the tracks would go.

Hopefully, this won’t mar the local landscapes or prevent winemakers from doing what we do best. And as a secondary wishful thinking kind of hope, maybe this will increase land value for a few of the locals.  And make it easier for me to get to Paris one day.  ;D

 

Customer review of Domaine O’Vineyards Proprietor’s Reserve 2005: