Click Here to Buy a Tee-Shirt and Help Support Olivier at our New Cafe Press Store!

Olivier Cousin is fighting against big business right now. The Inter Loire and the AOC system are unfortunately in the pocket of industrial farming operations, as you can read in his letter. They’ve polluted his land, co-opted the small wineries in his town, and now they want to take away his livelihood for protesting the changes.

We’ve had a tremendous show of support so far by people signing our petition, and the petition on glouegoule.fr in France. But we’re worried that this may not be enough, and that money may be called for. If you’d like to show your support for Olivier we set up this merchandise store to give you that opportunity. The AOC sees Olivier’s joke (pictured above) as a threat to their system, and we agree. They’d like this joke to be silenced, so we thought what better way to fight against this attempted repression, than to immortalize and flaunt the design everywhere? We slapped the design on tee-shirts, hoodies, water bottles, and tote bags, so you don’t have to spend a single waking moment not showing your support for Olivier.

100 % of the profits on the sale of these items goes to help Olivier fight the fight. If need be, it will be used to help pay the 36,000 Euro fine they are threatening him with. We personally can’t wait to try our tee-shirts on! So head on over to the cafepress.com store, and if you haven’t done it yet, please sign our petition!

For a recap of everything that’s happened, check out our Roundup of Coverage on Olivier’s Fight.

This is a translation of an interview with Olivier Cousin that appeared on Vindicateur.fr, a French site that attempts to reveal the behind the scenes action of the wine industry.

In case you missed it, you can buy a tee-shirt (or a hoodie, tote bag, or water bottle) to support Olivier at our cafepress store here.

Vindicator – Is Fraud control really after you just for putting Anjour Olivier Cousin on your boxes? And are they really threatening you with a fine of 30,000 euros and 2 years jail time?

Olivier Cousin: The Anjou Olivier Cousin is not really the problem, that made the controller smile really. What really bothers them is having Anjou Pur Breton, estate bottled, and the indication of vintage and/or grape variety on the bottle labels. They see these as misleading statements since they are not allowed on a Vin de Table label. The word Anjou is reserved only for wines from the appellation, and for that offense there is a maximum penalty of 37,500 Euros or 2 years in prison. The death penalty was abolished 30 years ago. The regional prosecutor will decide my fate.

Vindicator – What possible recourse can you take?

Olivier Cousin: My recourse will be the courts. Many of us are complaining about the administrative pettiness and the lobby of trade unions and inter loire. It is time to unveil the world of wine for what it is. Does this world make you dream? Really it tricks you. Advertisements and labels don’t tell you everything. Wine is not always made from only grapes. I’m defending the right to label an artisanal natural wine, like a basic food product, with all the applicable information.

Vindicator – A petition launched by Sylvie Augereau has already received over 700 signatures, including that of many in the wine industry (wine, wine merchants, journalists, bloggers …). What do you hope for from this?

Olivier Cousin: The petition Sylvie created is very interesting. There are many of us that agree with one another on these issues and I’m learning a lot from reading the comments on Glougeule.fr.

Vindicator – How do you explain this solidarity, which has touched journalists and bloggers, even foreigners, British and Americans for example?

Olivier Cousin: I sell the small amount of wine I make in every corner of the world and I think the fact that we work with truth and with life in what we do explains this solidarity.

Vindicator – Why are your wines not in the AOC Anjou? Is it something that was done to you, your deliberate choice, or the consequences of a systematic rejection of your application?

Olivier Cousin: I voluntarily left the AOC because the production method did not suit me any more: too much use of simple solutions, too many additives allowed, no notion of ecology. Really nothing good for the future. I choose to cultivate biodynamically as a Loire Valley Table Wine.

Vindicator – Did you knowingly provoke this situation you are in? Were you looking for it, and if you did, why did you do it?

Oliver Cousin: Yes, I knowingly caused this situation, I have defended Anjou wine because I love Anjou, and I can not stand the tyranny of the Inter Loire.

Vindicator – What is wrong with your AOC, and the AOC system in general, do you think?

Oliver Cousin: I produced wine for 25 years in the AOC, without being checked, and now because I make wine without controls, I am being checked. Now I make Vin de Table, still from the exact same vineyard in Anjou, but I’m not making Anjou wine anymore? Today, the important thing for me is to denounce the control of viticultural unions and wine Inter professions (like inter loire), which stand in the way of making natural, organic or biodynamic wines.The INAO is at the service of profitable wines that pollute.

Interview by Antonin Iommi-Amunategui

Photo credit: Eva Robineau

© Vindicator, 10/2011

There is a ton of chatter going on right on the internet about Olivier’s fight against Inter Loire and the AOC. Here’s a roundup of the various articles out there:

Mike Steinberger, the former Slate wine columnist has a post up on his blog entitled, French Wine Bureaucrats: Stop the Madness! Even Michel Bettane (the man some call the Robert Parker of France) has chimed in on the comments.

Bert Celce has a piece up on wine terroirs discussing the scandal. Featuring some great pics of Jenny, Francois, and Olivier!

Food and Wine magazine is making the struggle mainstream in their “mouthing off” column. Bonus props for the inflammatory title, “AOC wants winemaker in jail.”

Dr. Vino, one-time New York Times editorialist, and champion of good box wines, has a piece up as well, “Aid Olivier Cousin Goes Global.“

The Decanter article that really kicked off the coverage on Monday, “Loire Producer Faces Jail for Protest Labels.“

Alice Feiring’s article on October 1st brought attention to the issue first. This one features a letter in French from Olivier Cousin that we have translated here as well.

Jim’s Loire blog offers an interesting comparison between the penalties Olivier and 1855, a large online French wine retailer are facing.

Adam Morgenstern, of Organic Wine Journal fame, has a nice column in the Huffington post, “Winemaker Faces Jail for Being Organic.”

Even Jancis Robinson, famed British wine critic has chimed in with an article, “French Silliness over AOC.“

If you take the time to read all the articles here, you begin to see a common theme among them. They all point out the crisis of the AOC system and call for some serious reform. Inter Loire is supposed to be a public relations arm of this system, that exists to promote Loire Valley appellations. It would appear their strategy is backfiring on them, as the internet erupts with bad publicity about the AOC system.

Let’s keep the pressure up on Inter Loire! If you know anyone who works at Inter Loire or within INAO (the government side of the AOC system, headed by the Minister of Agriculture), let us know your suggestions for making this international movement heard within France. If you haven’t done so, please sign our petition here. We’re approaching 300 signatures in a little under 24 hours, which is great, but Olivier needs all the help he can get!

This letter was orginally published in French on Alice Feiring’s blog, but we have translated it here for you (the English version comes below after the French version). If you haven’t done it already, please sign the petition to help Olivier here.

Ben voila pourquoi je suis contrôle par la répression des fraudes et de la concurrence .

Cela fait 3 fois depuis 1994 (après mes contestations contre l’inter profession et les CVO (20 ans de combat 15 ans de proces).J’ai perdu hier mon compte a été bloqué par huissier.

Je suis pourtant un habitué des contrôles tous les ans par qualité france et Demeter pour l’agriculture biologique et biodynamique par l’INAO quand je produisais du vin AOC.

Je me souviens que quand j’étais a l’école de viticulture a Angouleme en 1980 ,le prof m’a demandé si nous produisons des AOC ,Je lui ai dit je ne sais pas, je rentre ce week end je demanderais a mon grand pére.Chez nous c’est sure on fait du vin d’Anjou.

Maintenant,je fais du vin de table en ANJOU, ,region viticole toujours tres réputé et envié nous redoutons toujours la contre façon.

J aurais aimé continuer a faire des AOC comme mon grand pére,mais la barre est haute maintenant,mais je n’ai pas les moyen financier ni intellectuel ,il faut produire au moins 50 hl par hectare il faut battre le raisin avec des machines  ,sulfiter levurer chaptaliser bacteriser sulfiter ensymer filtrer,trop d’investissement et de technique.

Nous sommes resté a la vieille méthode ,on vendanges a la main 35 hl par hectare sans sucre sans levure ,comme des paysans, on fait du vin comme du  pain c’est avant tout un aliment,comme dans le temps avant les AOC.

cela fait 6300 ans que l’homme fait du vin!

Moi j’ai une clientèle qui aime mon vin de table,mais il veut savoir le cépage la region le millesime (toujours unique en vin naturel)(mon grand père me disait “on millesime l’année ou le vin c’est fait naturellement:cadeau de la nature,y en a eu!).C’est pourquoi j’indiquais sur mes bouteilles, ces informations sont importantes pour comprendre le produit.

Ici je fais vivre une équipe de cultivateurs vendangeurs buveurs sans TVA(vente a l’export) et ni subvention, juste des charges sociales par solidarité ,on MSA

C’est vrai le vin de table n’a pas de terroir:ici je cultive les vignes de ma grand mère,qui lui vienne de son père, qui les a eu de son père ,et de son père ,et de son père,des vignes qui on toujours été sur les coteaux du layon a Martigné Briand;Je les cultive sans nuire aux hommes ni a la terre,et je ne supporte pas que mon vin soit réduit a” vin de table français issus de raisins de l’agriculture biodynamique,vin naturel sans manipulation ,produit par o cousin a F49540″ et en plus il doit nuire aux femmes enceintes!

Non et non on doit tout savoir comme n’importe quel produit alimentaire,(OGM sucre levure bactérie sorbate etc)

“Bonum vinum laetificat cor hominis”

Tout cela est arrivé il y a très peu de temps en Anjou grâce a des militaire et politique en mal de pouvoir,vigneron pour la solde président de tout ce qui bouge (j’en connais un qui a eu 13 casquettes) eh ben on est pas aidé ,ils ont réduit la viticulture angevine a des exploitations agricoles a coup de roundup ,d’engrais et de machine a battre la vignes.

Avant en 1980 nous étions 120 vignerons 800 vendangeurs 5 bistrots 800 hectares de vignes a Martigné Briand.

Maintenant nous sommes 40 exploitants agricoles 2 cultivateurs 40 vendangeurs 2 bistrots 850 hectares de vignes à Martigné pas briand!

Avant on pouvait se laver dans la rivière Layon,maintenant il faut se laver si on tombe dedans.(la rivière la plus pollué du Maine et Loire.)

En 2003 le comble arriva,l’autorisation de chaptaliser et d’acidifier les vin d’appellation!!!!

En 2005 je n’ai plus produit de vin AOC.

Here is why I am being investigated by Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control.

This makes 3 times since 1994 (after my protests against the inter profession (inter loire) and CVO, the “Obligatory Voluntary Tax” (20 years of fighting and 15 years of trial). Yesterday, I lost and my bank account was blocked by a bailiff.

I am used to being inspected every year by Demeter for organic and biodynamic agriculture and INAO when I made wines in the AOC.

When I was a student of viticulture in Angouleme in 1980, I remember the teacher asked me if we made wine in the AOC. I said I didn’t know, and that I would ask my grandfather when I returned home that weekend. At our winery, what is sure is that we make Anjou wine.

Now I make wine under the Vin de Table designation in Anjou, a long respected and envied region for viticulture, one which we always feared would be counterfeited.

I would have liked to continue to make AOC wine as my grandfather did, but now the bar is too high, and I  have neither the financial or intellectual means. One must produce at least 50 hl per hectare, one must beat the grapes with machines, add sulfites, enzymes and yeast, sterilize, and filter – too much investment and technology.

We use the old methods, we harvest by hand at 35 hl per hectare without adding sugar or yeast, like peasants, we make wine like we make bread, as in the times before the AOC existed, because wine after all, is like a food.

For 6300 years man has made wine!

I have a clientele that loves my “Table Wine,” but they want to know the region, grape variety, and vintage (which is always unique in natural wine). As my grandfather told me, we should indicate the vintage when we succeed in making the wine naturally, because this is indeed a gift of nature! For those reasons I want to indicate this information so people can understand my product.

Here I provide for the livelihood of a team of growers, harvesters, and drinkers.

It’s true that Table Wine has no terroir. I cultivate my grandmother’s vines, that came from her father, and his father before that. These vines were always in the coteaux du layon (the slopes of the Layon river) in Martigné-Briand. I raise them without harm to man or the earth. I can not tolerate that my wines are reduced to the status of “Table Wine made from grapes grown biodynamically, natural wine made without manipulation, by O Cousin from postal code 49450.”

No and no, we must always know everything in our wine, just as we do with any food (GMO, sugar, yeast, bacteria, sorbate, etc.)

“Bonum vinum laetificat cor hominis” (Wine maketh glad the heart of man).

All this happened very recently in Anjou, thanks to military people and politicians lacking power. They have reduced viticulture in the Loire valley to an industrial agricultural operation with its roundup, fertilizer, and machines that beat the vines.

Before 1980 we were 120 winemakers, 800 harvesters, 5 bistros, and 800 hectares of vines in Martigné-Briand.

Now we are 40 farming businesses, 2 vine growers, 40 harvesters, 2 bistros, and 850 hectares of vines.

Before we could wash ourselves in the Layon river, and now we must wash ourselves off when we fall in! (the most polluted river in the our region)

In 2003 the final straw was broken, when authorization was given to chaptalize and acidify within the AOC!!!!

Starting in 2005, I no longer made wines in the AOC.

Most winemakers don’t treat their vineyard like a treasured hand-tilled garden, or choose to work their land with horses.  Olivier Cousin does choose these ways, and for those reasons he doesn’t fit into the established order of French Winemaking. He, like many other natural winemakers, has decided not to work within the Appellation Origine Controlée system anymore – a system that has been broken for quite some time.  They instead choose the Vin de Table (Table Wine) classification. Inter Loire, the French government authority that oversees the appellation system, sees some of his labeling practices as a challenge to their authority.

A distributor of Olivier’s in Europe, in attempt to have a little fun, adorned some of his cases with “Appellation Olivier Cousin.” They were poking fun at the system, and at the same time making a statement that Olivier’s wines are entirely unique, and also more representative of the AOC Anjou than most AOC Anjou wines, since his wines are the expression of this unique place and terroir.

Inter Loire has responded to this joke with very a very serious reprimand. They have locked Olivier’s bank account, and are threatening him with jail time, for this heinous offense, and for using the words “Anjou pur Breton” on his label. For more details on the case, check out this decanter article. 

Please show your support for Olivier and sign the petition below, and it will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities in France. The box has been filled in with the French and English versions of a letter that is being passed along, but feel free to add your own thoughts about Olivier’s wines and his importance in the US marketplace.

Your comments on the petition and email address is kept confidential, however if you’d like them to be public, please leave them in the comments below!

Update: You can also help Olivier by buying a tee-shirt here. 

PLEASE NOTE: If you have already signed another petition, do not sign again here.

Latest Signatures

Over 500 signatures!

When we were in France last January, we took some time to chat with Olivier Cousin about the different types of maceration he uses. When we shot this video, Olivier’s grapes had been fermenting for about 3-4 months. The great thing about all forms of carbonic maceration, for a natural winemaker, is that it works very well when you don’t want to add any sulfur. The grapes remain whole, fermenting internally, so there’s less contact with air, which could introduce undesirable elements into the wine. As the grapes begin to burst, carbon dioxide is released, blanketing the juice, providing even more protection from oxygen. And, as Olivier explains, the temperature of the juice will often remain below the danger zone where bacteria can develop. Here’s some video we shot of Olivier explaining the differences between the three main forms of maceration–traditional, carbonic, and semi-carbonic:

(Be forewarned, this video contains extreme elements of wine geekery and is likely to result in heated debates on theories of winemaking!)

Things have been busy in J&F import land these days, with new vintages flooding through customs and into our warehouse. Some of these wines have been out of stock for a while since the previous vintage sold out, so we’re pretty excited to have them back, better than ever!

Chateau Haut la Vigne 2010 white:

Nadia Lusseau of Chateau Haut la Vigne has been providing us with affordable natural, biodynamic wines for four years now from the Cotes de Duras. Duras is just a stone’s throw from the city of Bordeaux, and this white blend of Sauvignon blanc and Semillon echoes the traditional blend found in white Bordeaux. We’ve actually had this wine in for a while, but felt it was really worth mentioning because it’s much fresher and more balanced than the previous vintage. It also has a very pretty new label to match. This wine was always a great value at a suggested retail of $15-$16, and now is a real steal considering how well it is showing.

This summer Jenny & François Selections has started working with three brand new wines from producers we’ve worked with for a long time.

Christian Binner Blanc de Noir:

Blanc de Noir, or white from black, is typically a designation applied to Champagne that is made from the Pinot Noir grape. It’s a white wine made from black grapes. If that weren’t unusual enough, the grapes used to make this wine were affected with botrytus cinerea. Botrytus is a peculiar type of mold that grows on grapes and is responsible for some of the greatest dessert wines on the planet. The conditions must be just right, with foggy damp mornings and sunny afternoons, or else the mold grows too much and all the grapes rot. When the conditions are perfect, the mold eats the water inside the grapes without breaking the skin, thus concentrating the sugar in the juice. The resulting sweet wine is flavored with notes of honey and apricot, flavors added by the so-called “noble rot.” All of Christian’s wines are totally unique expressions of terroir, but this wine is even more unique and unusual because it has just a touch of botrytus and is therefore completely dry, not sweet. Christian made the first vintage of this wine in 1998, and only makes it when the right conditions are present. We tasted this 2006 while at La Dive Bouteille this January in France, and thought it was too amazing to pass up. It quite simply tastes unlike anything else you have ever tasted before.

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Domaine de la Patience Rosé:
You may be familiar with the wines of Domaine de la Patience, from our boxed white From the Tank® Chardonnay, as well as their delicious Merlot. All of their wines show a complexity and minerality rare in wines so affordable, and this rosé is no exception. In France, the rosés of the South are valued for their ethereal lightness and just a hint of spice. The saying goes, “when it’s hot, drink rosé.” This wine displays all those classic Southern wine characteristics, but it distinguishes itself with a stunningly perfumed floral nose. This is a wine we will be drinking a lot of on hot summer nights!

Didier Montchovet Pinot Noir:

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Didier and Joelle Montchovet are fantastic biodynamic producers based in Bouze-les-Beaune, which is approximately 4 kilometers northwest of Beaune. In 2009 a two hailstorms drastically reduced the production of their Hautes Cotes de Beaune red, so they collaborated with a nearby organic producer to make this Bourgogne rouge. This is a wine that would satisfy any classic Burgundy lover, with it’s earthy forest floor notes, at a price that won’t break the bank. As a special extra treat, here’s some video we shot of Joelle talking about biodynamic winemaking while we were at the Return to Terroir biodynamic tasting in Angers last January:

 

This month we decided to sit down with Andy Besch for a video interview. Andy is not only a huge advocate of natural wines, he is a great educator about all wines of the world. Since he bought West Side Wine in 1998, Andy has made it his mission to educate his customers about how to buy wine. In this interview he discusses his philosophy, his first exposure to natural wines, and shares some great experiences he’s had visiting winemakers, including Tony Coturri, Olivier Cousin, and Eric Pfifferling. To read even more about Andy’s philosophy, you should check out his blog, and pick up a copy of his book. Enjoy the interview!