France Launches Route to New World

Some time this year, wine consumers in the UK will come across a new French label that will directly challenge the New World wines that have lured consumers away from Old Europe.

Chamarré - French for "bursting with colors" - is the product of a company called OVS that has taken on board the success of wines from Australia, Latin America and the US.

For OVS president Pascal Renaudat, Charmarre´ is France’s riposte to New World brands such as Jacob’s Creek and Hardy’s. Mr Renaudat, who has had 20 years in the wine business, told Guardian Unlimited: "We have to simplify our product and reject an arrogant approach that was perhaps natural to us. It is important to produce wine that corresponds to what people want to drink and at a good price."

With that in mind Chamarré wines will sell for between £4.99 and £6.99, the price range where New World wines have made the biggest inroads. This is the mass market where French wines have felt the squeeze in the UK in recent years.

The fact is, France still holds the largest share of UK wine imports. According to figures from HM Revenue & Customs, France in 2004 took 20.6% compared with Australia’s 17.3%, Italy’s 11.1%, America’s 10.7%, South Africa’s 8.3%, Spain’s 8.3% and Chile’s 6.1%.

But the problem for France is that it is losing ground in a growing market. Apart from Spain, all of France’s competitors increased sales in 2004.

OVS hopes to reverse the trend by ditching the French love affair with the "appellation" system, with its separate label requirements and vinification rules for each of nearly 450 wine-growing regions. The appellation system is baffling to most French people, never mind foreigners.

"This is not wine for connoisseurs. It is for pleasure," Mr Renaudat explained.

Seeking to demystify and simplify complex wine labels, the French government agencies already encourage producers of non-AOC (vins d’appellation d’origine controllee - quality wines produced under strictly controlled regional designations) wines to mention the name of the varietals (for instance, shiraz and sauvignon blanc), a common practice among their New World counterparts.

Chamarré takes the process of simplification further. For the moment, the brand will produce three lines. The first blends two varietals based around one dominant type, the second is a line of blends from several French regions and finally there is an AOC line.

"It’s time to get rid of the stuffy pretentiousness that surrounds French wine," said Renaud Rosari. "Chamarre´ is about bringing our wines to life for the consumers - the brand is lively, uncomplicated and approachable and means consistently high quality wines, with the fresh easy drinking style customers are looking for."

To get Chamarré off the ground, OVS had to persuade seven of France’s largest wine cooperatives to join forces - not an easy task.

But they will benefit from the combined marketing clout of OVS pushing one single brand, which Mr Renaudat believes is the key to success in a brand-dominated market.

A lot is at stake for the French wine industry. The sector employs 300,000 people and is worth €5.7bn (£3.9bn) a year. Last year, for the first time, Brussels agreed to a French demand to convert 1.5m hectoliters of quality wine into industrial alcohol in response to a large drop in wine prices - up to 30% in some cases - caused, in large part, by overproduction.

Unlike previous years when "crisis distillation" was used to lower the European lake of cheap table wine, this time AOC wines were boiled into industrial alcohol. Part of the problem is declining domestic consumption, which has forced producers to turn increasingly outwards.

Jamie Goode of wineanorak.com credits OVS for taking a brave commercial decision and believes that the company could make a go of it - provided quality is good and reasonably consistent.

"The trouble is that everybody is doing it," Mr Goode said, adding, "Access to market is key. You need to get into the supermarkets, but you need to have a strong brand with which to negotiate or else they will savage you on price."

OVS is currently negotiating with the supermarkets and expects to have Chamarré on the shelves in the next few months. That will be the first big test for Chamarré. If the brand proves to be a success in the UK, other French producers will be clambering to come under the OVS umbrella.