Fury and charges of 'egotism' as Loire's Baumard challenges Grand Cru

Tedious, maybe, but the devil -- and sometime's the truth -- is in the details.
The decrets from which we were working were separated by two days:
Mine:

Article AOC "Quarts de Chaume"
Abrogé par Décret n°2011-1614 du 22 novembre 2011 - art. 2
CAHIER DES CHARGES DE L'APPELLATION _D'ORIGINE CONTRÔLÉE " QUARTS DE CHAUME

NB: Clearly 2011, not 2009.

Yours: It seems to be an encrypted pdf so I can't copy and paste. The date, however, is 24 November 2011.

My guess is that is simply corrects one or more typographical errors.

I make this point because journalistic precision and fairness is important to me.

At the risk of this becoming tedious, a clarification:

The current Quarts de Chaume décret is 2011-1614, which annulled the previous decret from 2009. Jackie was quoting from this previous décret.

The yields in the current décret are as I indicated:

In the Décret 22.11.11 le rendement vise is set at 20hl/ha, while le rendement butoir is 25 hl/ha.

It remains to be seen whether 2011-1614 is upheld or annulled by the Conseil d'Etat following the Baumard's legal challenge.

Nathan. I have made a number of visits to the Quarts de Chaume over the years and, in particular, over the last two years. During these visits I have taken a number of photos in various parts of the appellation.

I have invited Florent Baumard to send me details of what they object to in the 2011 décret, in particular the 'errors' and 'contradictions' they say it contains. At the Salon Florent mentioned one error in passing but I would prefer not to report or comment on this until I have seen the details.

Small correction to my most recent post: Cady does not make Quarts de Chaume but Coteaux du Layon-Chaume.

Jim,
Might I suggest that when your lede uses such charged words as "provoked the fury," you ought to do more than send an email to the party being accused of provoking such fury.
You give Pierre Aguilas more face time than you do the Baumards. If not a sit-down interview, at least a long phone interview is in order.
Speaking of Aguilas, when he says, "‘Quarts de Chaume is a very great appellation and many have worked very hard to bring it up to a standard that merits a grand cru. Now all this work over the past 20 years,..."
I think it's worth pointing out that until the mid-1990s, three proprietors accounted for nearly all of the production of Quarts de Chaume: Baumard, Jacques Lalanne and Laffourcade. Lalanne sold his property to Alain Chateau and Laffourcade has been selling off bits and pieces of his Quarts holdings for years. The reputation of Quarts of which Aguilas is so (rightly) proud, is, therefore, based largely on the wines made by Baumard though it is certainly true that some wonderful new(ish) proprietors -- eg Pierre-Bise, Cady, Guegniard -- have further burnished that reputation.
There's a reason why Dickens had one of has characters say, "The law is a ass." And there's a reason why law-making is commonly compared to sausage-making: you don't want to see it being done; you only want to see the finished product.
There are a number of issues to be addressed in this new decret -- as there are in so many of the other decrets currently being rewritten. (I might point out here that I believe you and I agree that it is wrong-headed for the proposed revision of the decret for Touraine AOC to eliminate (or strictly limit the use of) grapes such as Pineau d'Aunis.
Now, I'm only too happy to agree with you about yields but here's the decret:
1° Rendement :
_a) Le rendement visé à l'article D. 644-25 du code rural est fixé à 25 hectolitres par hectare.
_2° Rendement butoir : _a) Le rendement butoir visé à l'article D. 644-25 du code rural est fixé à 25 hectolitres par hectare.

Jim...collusion is not attractive to readers. Fess up and defend your situation, or gracefully bow out. If you are truthful, your truth will light the way.

Jackie. In terms of yields we are both correct. In the Décret 22.11.11 le rendement vise is set at 20hl/ha, while le rendement butoir is 25 hl/ha.

I have invited Florent Baumard to email me details of the errors and contradictions they find in the décret.

I stand by this short news report as accurately reflecting the responses I was given to my questions during the recent Salon des Vins de Loire.

However, I'm sure both of us are aware that there is much more to be said about this unfortunate conflict than can be encapsulated in short news item.

I would remind you that in February 2006 I covered on decanter.com Florent Baumard's brave move to put his wines into screwcap including his Quarts de Chaume.

Jim, You really ought not to be the person writing this article as you have demonstrated that you have a bias against the Baumards. In October 2010 you posted a photo allegedly of part of Baumard’s Quarts de Chaume vineyard on your blog, indicating that Baumard was over-cropping. You did not, at the time of the posting, ask Baumard if those grapes were a) his; b)had been harvested; or c) went into the making of the domaine’s Quarts or another one of its wines, eg its Cremants.
When I posted a response on your blog, suggesting that you interview the Baumards, you said you planned to do so. After speaking with Florent Baumard at the Salon des Vins de Loire last week, I learned that you had not done so.
Your quote from the Baumards hardly addresses their specific criticisms of the decret as written.
BTW, the decret that I downloaded indicated yields of 25 hl/ha, not 20. But perhaps there was a decret written after November 2011. (Article AOC "Quarts de Chaume"
Abrogé par Décret n°2011-1614 du 22 novembre 2011 - art. 2
CAHIER DES CHARGES DE L'APPELLATION _D'ORIGINE CONTRÔLÉE " QUARTS DE CHAUME “
I suggest Decanter send someone more objective to interview all the parties and write a more balanced article.