Beaume de Venice Cooperative (Review 1 of 2)

This visit was very interesting because we got an in depth description of how a successful cooperative works. The cooperative was started in 1956 by a few farmers getting together, borrowing money to build the winery. The effort here was to produce quality wines, which therefore required quality control both in the vineyard and grape selection at harvest. Today there are approximately 80 growers in the cooperative each having between 6 and 80 ha of vines. The grapes brought to the winery are divided by quality and classified into 4 classes, A to D. D grapes are rejected while C and B grapes produce village wines, and B and A are made into Côte du Rhône AOC or Côte Vanteux AOC wines. Some of the best quality grapes may be put into single vineyard wines - sometimes even aged in wood. Each member receives about 3000-4000 Euro per ton of premium grapes brought in. The highest price is paid for the Muscat grapes. The payment to farmers is based on the final wine sold to the public, as the farmer does not get paid for the grapes but for the final product when expenses have been deducted. Payments are received once a month about 1/14-1/15 of final income with the remaining paid in the end of year. The co-op has presently 25 employees, a board of directors and a management team of 5-6 individuals. Quality is controlled in the vineyard, 3 technical persons are in charge of visiting the vineyard to advice about crop yield during the growth season, as well as before harvest to determine quality. As the grapes come in quality is assessed in laboratory - sugar used to be a criteria, but now it is general quality.

Beaume de Venise growers have about 65-75% Grenache, 20-35% Syrah, and small amounts of Cinsault. They also grow Muscat. Grenache contributes the fruit, and Syrah to the depth and structure to the wine; the two other grape varieties seldom consist more than 5% of the wine. The grapes are co-fermented in enormous stainless steel tanks (at least 20 feet high) with delestage, no removal of seeds. Côtes-du-Rhône stays in fermenters for about 14 days, Côte Ventoux about a week. The wine is then stored in cement tanks. Only a small proportion (maybe 5%) go into barrels if sufficient tannins and complexity has been obtained. The required alcohol levels are 12% for Côtes-du-Rhône and 11% for Côtes Ventoux.

We tasted a 2001 rose wine from Grenache, dry nice fruit and acidity. Next a village wine, simple and fresh, and then two AOC wines grown on Trias soil, one aged in stainless the other one in barrels. Lots of red berries and nice acidity in both. The price of the wines ranged from 3 to 12 Euro.

The Muscat wines were fortified to 15% alcohol with about 11% residual sugar. We tasted an early and a later harvest. Both had the same amount of alcohol and sugar. Our host called the late harvest an "English ladies wine", was thicker and appeared more syrupy. The first wine was elegant clean fruit and higher acidity.

Vignerons de Beaumes de Venise (Review 2 of 2)

Notes on the Wine Co-op as they related to the Growers.

Of the four soil types in the growing area, Muscat grows predominantly on the sandy soils on the flat areas. The preferred terrain for Grenache and Syrah was found to be a red clay, gypsum soil, Terroir Trias.

Growers in the co-op are followed during the season by viticultural professionals employed by the co-op. Grapes at harvest time are graded on arrival and payment is based on a four point scale. Poorer quality scores receive lower payments. Those growers with lower scores are given guidance by other co-op members and technicians to prevent recurrences. The approximately 120 growers receive a per ton fee that is derived from sales at the facility and export. Growers do not sell wine. Their payment reflects a 20% discount that goes towards upkeep and improvement of the co-op facilities. In 2001, growers of Muscat would receive at least $4000 per ton of grapes. With a crop load limit of 1.5 tons per acre, that works out to about $6000 per acre farmed.

For additional information about this Co-op: http://www.beaumes-de-venise.com/an/index1.htm

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