Lifestyle

Never heard of the wine? You should try this label anyhow


Some of us, I suspect, have an unduly romantic image of the way our food and drink is produced. In the case of wine, it’s probably a small, family-run domaine in the depths of the French countryside, passed on from father to son, making simple, honest wines that taste the way they did 40 years ago.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking anything bigger is automatically bad, and that this means dull, poor-quality wines – and few wineries are bigger, in France at least, than a co-op. But the truth is, co-ops may meet the needs of the small grower better these days than going out on their own.

They certainly think so at Plaimont, a huge enterprise in the Gers in south-west France that supplies a good deal of cheap and cheerful drinking under the Côtes de Gascogne label. They have 800 growers, five wineries and an annual turnover of €73m, but they have revived and re-energised the wine industry in the region. Alongside the everyday drinking they provide for the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury’s, they are busy converting an increasing percentage of their 5,300 hectares of vineyard to organic, dabbling in sulphur-free wines and reviving long-lost grape varieties – most interestingly tardif and manseng noir, which they are planting to bring down the alcohol level of the native tannat grape. They are also successfully vinifying it on its own, making a deliciously funky red (the Côtes de Gascogne Manseng Noir £14.80 Les Caves de Pyrène, 11%), which is about as far from a stereotypical co-op wine as you can imagine.

I asked one of their growers whether he would rather have his own name on the bottle. Not if he couldn’t sell it, he said. “At the end of the 70s, in this region, everything was dying. It was all about cheap wine. We wouldn’t have survived if we hadn’t created our own identity. Thanks to our local grapes, we’ve opened up new markets and everyone can make a living.”

Plaimont is far from the exception. Trawl through the average supermarket and you’ll spot the names. La Chablisienne co-op supplies a lot of the chablis we drink, with a longstanding partnership at M&S; the Cave de Tain in the northern Rhône provides us with most of the crozes hermitage, and Araldica in Piedmont a great deal of the gavi and barbera you’ll come across. If co-ops didn’t exist, we would probably have to invent them. They have certainly re-invented themselves.

Don’t know the name? Try these wines anyway


Côtes de Saint Mont Les Vignes Retrouvées


Côtes de Saint Mont Les Vignes Retrouvées 2017

£8.95 The Wine Society 13.5%.

Exotically fruity but dry blend of the indigenous gros manseng, petit courbu and arrufiac. Would be good with a pad thai. Incidentally, the Wine Society is a co-op too.


Gavi Quadro Sei 2018


Gavi Quadro Sei 2018

£8 Marks & Spencer, 12.5%.

Crisp, whistle clean white from the Araldica co-op in Piemonte. Drink with grilled prawns or a creamy risotto.


Cop de Ma Priorat 2017


Cop de Ma Priorat 2017

£13 larger Co-ops, 14%.

Bold, ballsy blend of garnacha and mazuela (carignan) from the newly set up Vinis Catalonia (Cop de Ma means lend a hand). Great with a steak.


Fleurie 2018


Fleurie 2018

£10 Marks & Spencer, 13%. Pretty, juicy Beaujolais from the Cave des Producteurs de Fleurie. Serve chilled with a picnic.


For more from Fiona Beckett, visit matchingfoodandwine.com

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