Will Vins de France turn wine into Coca-Cola?
French wines could be homogenised into "Coca-Cola"-like global brands as producers opt out of appellation systems, a wine official in France has said.
While the move is unlikely to effect premium brands such as Mouton Rothschild and Petrus, smaller vintners may soon adopt the generic Vins de France brand, decanter.com reports.
Valerie Pajotin, director of Anivin de France - the company promoting Vins de France - said the decision to allow producers to blend wines across regions will ensure "a consistency of quality" and a "constant taste" all year round.
Anivin believes the measure will appeal to younger drinkers by offering lower prices and marketing by grape variety rather than origin.
However, the suggestion has been met with horror from the owners of some chateaux, who told the website homogenising French produce is "a violation of our wine heritage".
It follows news that the long-running appellation issues between Burgundy and Beaujolais have been put to rest, after it was decided that white Beaujolais may no longer be labelled as white Burgundy.