French winegrower releases Palestine cuvée

A winegrower in the central French region of the Côtes d'Auvergne has released a special cuvée in support of the Palestinian cause. Gilles Persilier, who is based in the commune of Roche Blanche, just south of Clermont-Ferrand, produced 1500 bottles of his "Palestine" label and will donate 50 percent of the €10 price tag to the local France-Palestine Solidarity Association.

Persilier, along with Montpeyroux winegrower Yvan Bernard, traveled to the country in 2017, courtesy of the Association, to visit the Al Sanabel fruit and grapegrowing cooperative near Hebron, in the southern West Bank, just south of Jerusalem. Although the cooperative produces no more than grape juice from its vines, Persilier was struck by the experience.

"They are not allowed to use sulfur because they are told it could be used to make a bomb," he told local radio France Bleu in 2018.

The France-Palestine Solidarity Association says the Hebron region was traditionally a fruit-producing region with its produce "once sold throughout the southern West Bank and Gaza".

"Traffic difficulties linked to checkpoints and the numerous constraints imposed by the [Israeli] military occupation, the blockade of Gaza, and competition from Israeli fruit produced in the settlements are causing major sales difficulties," says the Association. "Grapes that do not find buyers are then bought by Israeli companies at ridiculously low prices to be transformed into wine."

"Farmers in the region had responded by organizing a cooperative to transform surplus grapes into pasteurized juice," it said. "This project is seen as an operation to resist the occupation."

Persilier's wine went on sale in Clermont-Ferrand on Saturday (October 4).

CAV empties wine tanks in Languedoc

Direct action winegrower group CAV (the Comité d'Action Viticole, or "Winegrowing Action Group") has once again hit a major wine merchant in the Aude region of southern France, spraying grafitti on the walls and emptying tanks of wine in a protest against unfair wine prices.

Images of a dozen members of the group swooping on a wine producer in Douzens, midway between Carcassonne and Narbonne in the heart of the Corbières wine region, at around 11.30pm October 30, were relayed by several sources. Although local newspaper L'Indépendant named the organic Domaine Py estate, it appears French wine news website Vitisphere was correct in stating the victim was in fact the Château de la Bosse – a négoce operation acquired by the Bordeaux-based Raymond Vins in 2016.

"On the façade, a message graffitied in capital letters set the tone: "CAV [caution] prices'," said L'Indépendant. "Moments later, four people entered the cellar and opened several vats. Hundreds of liters of wine escaped and spilled onto Avenue des Corbières, flowing down the road in a red stream."

According to Vitisphere, Raymond Vins was "clearly targeted" for its "very aggressive policies on [wine] purchase prices" in the region.

Tensions in the region had been brewing since the end of harvest, with demonstrations planned for last Friday. Indeed, it appears this was a "warning shot" (L'Indépendant) to wine merchants in the area.

"If the location was not chosen at random, neither was the period," said Vitisphere on Wednesday. "The usual harvest meeting between representatives of production and trade in Languedoc is looming on October 2, and the economic situation meeting for production on October 9."

The CAV is long-standing, shady direct action viticulture group operating the Languedoc for decades. For more on their activities see Bomb Blows Up French Wine War and More Violence in Southern France (all from last year) as well as "Tensions rise in southern France" from Threat Claims in Winemaker Libel Saga (in 2023).

With a less than stellar 2025 harvest and aggressive pricing policies from merchants with a dwindling consumer base, the region will be lucky if there is not more violence in the coming months.

French actor launches Bordeaux whiskey

French film actor and Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin, who won the Oscar for best actor in his role in the silent 2011 movie The Artist, became the latest name to join the clan of celebrities in the world of wine and spirits.

Dujardin, who also played the title role in the James Bond spoof spy franchise OSS117, launched his first whiskey label, dubbed Aventure, in Bordeaux on Wednesday alongside three banker friends. The company – the Bordeaux Distilling Co. – was initially conceived by the bankers when they were working in the City of London. The company was founded in 2018.

One of their number, Éric Lafon, who knew Dujardin from when they used to surf together on the Atlantic coast of the Médoc, got in touch with the actor, who agreed to become a co-founder.

"I found the idea very attractive," Dujardin told an interviewer for local television news TV7 (part of the local Sud-Ouest newspaper group).

"It's not a bad thing to take a little break from Bordeaux [wine] and go towards a whiskey, a French rye whiskey, from Bordeaux, made in Bordeaux, to better come back to red wine and grands crus," he said.

Dujardin himself was in Bordeaux to promote the launch of the whiskey on Wednesday. The whiskeys are produced from organic French rye and aged in French and American oak in the group's warehouse in Bordeaux.

"Unlike barley, it's a malt that requires continuous mixing in the mash. So it may be more technical, but the four of us wanted this whisky to be drier and sharper," fellow founder Antoine Gravouil told regional newspaper Sud-Ouest this week.

The launch party saw three age expressions (across 4000 bottles) launched onto the market. The Bordeaux Distilling Co. has already produced a range of gins and other, non-aged, spirits, since its foundation.

Pago de Tharsys approved by EU

The European Union has approved the creation of a new Vino de Pago appellation in the Valencia region of Spain. Pago de Tharsys, a well-established producer in the town of Requena became the latest property to join the ranks of the (often controversial) Vino de Pago (estate-based) appellation.

The Pago de Tharsys estate, located some 70km (40 miles) due west of Valencia, dates back to the early 19th Century and now spans some 14 hectares (34 acres) of organically-run vineyard. The winery produces red, rosé and white wines, including a number of Cava labels.

The Vino de Pago title (which is based solely around the vineyard holdings of a single estate, and as such is not necessarily geographical) has courted controversy since its inception, with many estates holding the title based in Spanish regions, such as Castilla La Mancha, which are better-known for bulk (rather than quality) wine production. Some of the estates are also owned by wealthy and influential Spaniards.

Wine "not incompatible with sport"

Spanish Olympic medalist Saúl Craviotto said this week that wine is "not incompatible with sport", claiming that a "moderate" approach to the drink is part of his routine. Craviotto, a canoeist whose medal haul includes six Olympic gongs, including two golds, made the statement as he became the ambassador for the Coto de Caleruega Ribera del Duero label created by the Rioja-based Barón de Ley wine group.

"I love going out to eat with my wife, and having a couple of glasses of wine is a real pleasure," he told Spanish celebrity magazine Hola. "It depends on the moment, but I like both red and white wines, sparkling wines, and so on."

"[The wines are] always consumed within reason and common sense," he added. "Let's not forget that it's an inseparable part of the Mediterranean diet."

Craviotto, a sprint kayaker and winner of Spain's Celebrity Masterchef in 2017, was speaking at the release of the Coto de Caleruega Roble 2024. One of Spain's greatest-ever athletes, Craviotto is also well-known as a gastronome, regularly uploading recipes to his Instagram channel.

But he told Hola there were significant parallels between the world of sport and that of wine.

"[The] effort, the sacrifice, the teamwork – a lot of which is not seen," he said. "We often open a bottle of wine, have a glass and don't stop to think or analyze everything that lies behind it: the years that must pass, the care of the vineyard, the meticulous production, the time in the barrel and the bottle, etc. In the world of sport, the same thing happens: we spend four years preparing for a test that lasts just a few minutes, in which you risk everything - like when you taste a wine - and it's that effort people don't usually appreciate."