Despite the tremendous momentum organic farming, the wine industry is suffering. Six million hectoliters were distilled last year and around a hundred thousand hectares will be uprooted, or nearly 15% of the total surface area. The fault of the disenchantment which strikes the blood of the vine in France: less 70% in sixty years – the reds are struggling more than the others. To ward off the inexorable trend, initiatives are multiplying. Like, to regain the favor of female palates and millennials, reduce alcohol levels, break the codes of consumption. Or even switch the production of Provence to organic since 25% of the vineyard has been converted. How to restore color to our viticulture? Our guide.
In 1997, Correns became the “first organic village in France”. Faced with the economic decline of local viticulture, the mayor of this medieval town on the right bank of the Argens, Michaël Latz, also president of the cooperative, had made a shift towards organic farming two years previously. Producers of olive oil, honey and market gardeners in this part of the aptly named Provence Verte immediately banned pesticides. Always a pioneer, the cellar recently converted to biodynamics.
Since then, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Alps, many Provençal estates have been cultivated with respect for nature. The region is even a leader in this area. “More than a quarter of the areas are certified organic [NDLR : 15 % au niveau national] and a third in High environmental value, rejoices Eric Pastorino, president of the Interprofessional Wine Council of Provence. But our objective is to increase the accumulation of these two labels to 100% within our three appellations.” Best students, 67% of producers in Coteaux-Varois display the green logo on their labels, compared to 48% in Côtes-de-Var. Provence and 53% in Coteaux-d’Aix.
What a long way we have come since Correns’s coup. Laurence Berlemont, co-founder of the Provençal Agronomy Cabinet, is among those who patiently trace it. “When I started in the profession, in 1996, a few particular cellars were interested in organic farming, such as Château La Lieue and Margillière, in Brignoles, with whom I immediately worked. Like the Correns winegrowers, they were thought to be crazy people! The word AB did not appear on the label, it was “bad looks”! They were simply aware of environmental protection.” These pioneers faced the challenges: “We lacked perspective, but the climate, more favorable than elsewhere, was a valuable ally,” recalls the agricultural engineer. In summer, in Provence, the combination of a hot and dry regime with the mistral creates conditions that are not very favorable to cryptogamic diseases (mildew, powdery mildew).
Even the heavyweights are getting into it
The boom in organic farming in Provence subsequently took off in the 2000s, with the arrival of young winegrowers at the head of family farms and, above all, numerous investors – captains of industry and finance. , movie stars, etc. – captivated by the conjunction of Helios and Bacchus, but without experience of the vine. “These new winegrowers had for the most part two assets,” explains Laurence Berlemont. “Financial means and the “consultant culture” of the newbies. This allowed us to move faster.” Today, the Provençal Agronomy Cabinet supports 80 properties, 93% of which are AB certified.
The winegrowers’ unions, for their part, are not left out. Like Estandon, in the Var, a heavyweight in the sector in France (more than 20 million bottles). This group of cooperatives is the largest organic wine producer in the region, with 30% of production labeled AB in Côtes-de-Provence and 40% in Protected Geographical Indications (PGI). “And conversions continue to increase,” observes Catherine Huguenin, the cellar master, who blends all of the structure’s wines. For her, in the Coteaux-Varois, “organic certification will quickly become a prerequisite for obtaining the AOP”. On the consumption side, she is delighted, despite a certain general disenchantment with organic products, that sales have not fallen either in supermarkets or in wine merchants. “We just note a transfer to IGPs, with more attractive prices,” she specifies.
Respond to a societal demand
With the proliferation of actors, motivations have also evolved. The militant altruism of the pioneers was replaced by a sort of reality principle based on the need to respond to a societal expectation in order to move forward. “In 2010, I took the plunge more out of economic certainty than out of metaphysical dizziness,” declares Olivier Nasles, president of the National Committee for Organic Agriculture, a sort of organic parliament at the National Institute of Origin and quality With his outspokenness, the winemaker from Eguilles (Bouches-du-Rhône) and consulting oenologist for around a hundred cooperative cellars in the South of France, explains: “Obviously organic is better for the. health and for the planet, there is no debate on that. But if we are simply having fun and the economic activity does not turn out to be profitable, it does not work. We must create added value by converting to organic.” The cooperatives have understood this well, which adds value to their members’ organic juices by 10 to 20% and supports them during the conversion.
Perhaps more than elsewhere, the region is also crossed by other trends concerned with environmental protection, such as biodynamics, agroforestry, permaculture… And the return of mixed farming: almond trees, pistachio trees and , of course, olive trees repopulate the landscape. As at Domaine de Leos, the property that Patrick Bruel acquired in 2006 in the Luberon. Organic is obvious for the artist, who did not hesitate when he launched into the production of olive oil, even less for the management of his vineyard, his lifelong dream. “To develop a virtuous ecosystem, we must have the means to focus more on the environment than on returns.” He has thus maintained vast natural spaces and planted honey-producing species for bees.
“But the major challenge now lies in water management – a response to the consequences of global warming, observes Laurence Berlemont. Regenerative agriculture, in particular, contributes to this: more organic matter makes it possible to retain water in the soil.” “We motivate our members on the subject,” adds Catherine Huguenin. After green and pink Provence, blue?
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