Avenue Vine

Today we report on the launch of a dynamic partnership between GCF, France's biggest wine producer, and DGB, which is about to release a global French brand on the world shelf - while putting its own brands into le supermarche Francais.

Wine writers witnessed the sacrifice of Gallic sacred cows at the recent South African launch of JP Chenet and Calvet, two of France's biggest global wine brands. "Wine is not an icon to be hung in a gallery," declared Bruno Kessler, director of oenology for Groupe Les Grands Chais de France (GCF). "Wine is market-driven - determined by what consumers want not what the growers want to make. Modern wine has to satisfy the needs of consumers who don't have to understand the complexity of appellations."

Such heresies could land a winemaker in hot vichyssoise - or on the supermarket rack. The former boutique winemaker who oversees quality control of 32,5m cases of wine sold in 138 countries talks about "modern French wine" - and decries the Napoleonic tenets of grand cru growers who talk terroir and "Small is beautiful". Big is bold in the eyes of GCF, the biggest exporter of bottled French still wine (17% market share). At 7,5m cases GCF's Chenet is the biggest French brand of bottled varietal wine sold at home in France - as well as Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and UK.

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"All Chenet wines are unwooded. We want varietal character in all our wines - not wood. Consumers have forgotten how the grapes actually taste on the vine," continues Bruno Kessler. JP Chenet breaks the French mould, he adds, from the innovative design of the wonky-necked, dented bulbous bottle and wonky stem glasses to long-term partnerships with approved wine growers and co-operatives based on compliance with varietal taste profiles, optimal ripeness, low yields and fruit-driven styles. I've heard that mantra elsewhere - but from new-world winemakers not the old.

Building global wine brands is an art and science. Bruno Kessler, a man of influence who also happens to be president of the association of negociants of France, likes to talk about "the analytical sensory profile", "acceptability thresholds" (yields, storage conditions and monitoring) and "total traceability" of the end-product. He emphasises, "Maturity is the key factor to deliver wines suited to our brand style. Grapes are harvested, tasted and analysed according to strictly defined ripeness guidelines."

(Ripeness is also the gospel of Freddie de Wet of Excelsior, the second biggest South African wine brand in the lucrative US market after Goats do Roam. Excelsior in Robertson is the home of the biggest South African single varietal (Cabernet Sauvignon) wine in the US - as well as Cape Classics best-selling Indaba brand. While overseeing his 37th vintage on the farm, Freddie took us on a tour of the vineyards and cellar that produces 900 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon (2m bottles). Waiting for the perfect window to harvest at optimal ripeness is Excelsior's export secret. The result - a super-ripe wine style with soft tannins, sweet fruit and a light brush of wood, custom-made for the US market.)

JP Chenet is the only French wine label in the world's top eight brands - alongside Gallo, Kendall Jackson and Franzia (California), Jacob's Creek, Hardy's and Yellow Tail (Australia) and Don Simon (Spain) - global brands which sell millions of cases per annum at an average 3-5 Euros, the biggest price category in Europe. GCF also owns the well-known Calvet brand (7,5m bottles in 2007) - a famous negociant and number one Bordeaux brand in the UK (1m bottles) - as well as boutique brands like La Baume (acquired from BRL Hardy) and top-flight Chateau Laroque of St Emilion.

"We make speciality wines from 6,000 bottles for a niche market (30% of our business) to one million cases of rosé wine for our Chenet brand," says Kessler, who adds they can't make enough still and sparkling rosé to meet consumer demand.

The Chenet wines we tasted - Colombar/Chardonnay, Cinsault/Grenache Rosé (1m cases), unwooded Merlot and Syrah - live up to the winemaker's promise of "pure fruit... like it tastes on the vine" with lower alcohol levels of 12,5 - 13%. The standard JP Chenet range is already on the South African shelf, priced at a competitive R60 per bottle - and aiming at an off-trade and on-trade presence to refresh South African wine-lists showing signs of fatigue. Sourced from the Gascogny and Languedoc regions, JP Chenet wines will soon be joined by three other GCF premium brands - Calvet Reserve (R96), La Baume (R84) and super-premium Chateau Laroque Grand Cru (R379).

Speaking at the launch in Cape Town in late March, Tim Hutchinson, CEO of DGB, commented on the innovative relationship between GCF and DGB which originated 18 months ago. "We're excited about the partnership. The market is witnessing ongoing domestic and global consolidation. Market alliances are the route to success."

"It's extremely difficult to launch new brands right now. We aim to export three to five million cases and become the biggest exporter of premium South African wines over the next five years." Fair exchange with France is no snobbery - so to speak. DGB has concluded a deal whereby Tall Horse, a varietal range of six wines exported to 11 countries, will shortly appear on the shelves of Carrefour, the global French hypermarket. On the export front, Douglas Green Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz recently won a worldwide tender in Sweden for 1.5 million litres of wine (166,000 cases).

I'm looking forward to sampling a bottle of JP Chenet's Premier De Cuvee Chardonnay - numbered bottle 29,701, a wine which won a gold medal at the Concours Vin de Pays 2007. I wonder if I'll need a wonky corkscrew to open the wonky shaped bottle which leans off to the right in my wine cellar - or is it me? Wine is all in the eye of the beholder... and the brandmaker.

Source: “How To Make a Best-Selling Global Brand ,” Graham Howe, WineCoZa, April 24, 2008