French organic wine has been hailed as a great contemporary success story, but it is starting to acquire a bitter after-taste, at least for its producers.
Winemakers in Bordeaux complain of too much backache and too little return. In an open letter, the 580 or so organic winemakers of the Aquitaine region, which includes Bordeaux, say that they are victims of unscrupulous profiteers seeking to drive them out of business.
They say that it costs an average of €1,934 (£1,400) to produce a 900-litre barrel of claret, but they are being paid as little as €1,250 by the merchants who sell their wines in France and other countries.
“A small number of buyers seem to have decided that organic winemakers will now work for nothing,” the letter, says, accusing merchants of “getting rich on the backs of producers”.
According to Patrick Boudon, chairman of the Union of Organic Wine Makers of Aquitaine, “the result is that producers have a choice between bankruptcy or returning to conventional wines”.
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His comments appear to have brought an abrupt end to recent euphoria over organic wine in France. Latest figures show that there are almost 5,000 organic winemakers in the country, accounting for 8 per cent of the nation’s vines. Production has tripled over the past six years and sales came to €503 million in 2013, up more than 20 per cent on the previous year. Almost half was exported, mostly to Germany.
Mr Boudon says that labour costs are 30 per cent higher in organic vineyards because producers weed by hand and use “natural molecules” instead of pesticides. “The trouble is that every time it rains, they are washed off and you have to start again. And it has rained a lot this year.” He claims that drinkers are prepared to pay more for wines that do not contain additives such as polyvinylpolypyrrolidone, used to make them clearer, or potassium sorbate, a preservative.
He says, too, that organic producers in Bordeaux are being paid little more than their non-organic rivals. This is because there is only a small mark-up for organic wines in French shops and because the difference is pocketed by supermarkets, wine shops and intermediaries.
His claims are fiercely denied by merchants and stores, which say consumers in France refuse to pay more than a tiny premium.
Commentators point out that organic vineyards in less celebrated regions, such as Languedoc-Roussillon, fare better, largely because they club together to sell their wines and obtain better prices. Bordeaux producers — organic or not — are fiercely independent and mostly unwilling to join forces, which deprives them of clout in negotiations.