The entire Fitou appellation and its producers have left the regional association of Languedoc wineries (CIVL).
The split was made public at the CIVL’s annual general meeting in Narbonne last week when Fitou’s letter of resignation was conspicuously on the agenda.
The move towards a single, united wine trade federation called Inter-Sud – combining CIVL, CIVR (Roussillon), Inter-Oc (vin de pays d’Oc) and ANIVIT (vins de pays & table) – has been too slow for region.
‘If we want to do this, we have to do it quickly. Everyone is talking about unity but people are dragging their feet,’ said Jean-Marc Astruc, Fitou winegrowers’ president.
Astruc also said that financial issues were a concern.
‘We were paying in was too much compared to what we got out of it,’ he said. ‘The administrative structure was too expensive and Fitou wasn’t very visible.’
The concept of managing and promoting the whole region as ‘South of France’ was agreed a year ago and the Inter-Sud charter was signed in June.
Katie Jones, export manager at Mont Tauch, the progressive co-operative based in Tuchan and major player in Fitou production, said the co-operative was ‘committed’ to the South of France idea but that the CIVL was ‘just one level too much’.
Written by Richard James
