Old Europe is afraid of change, afraid to take chances. That’s what President Bush is supposed to have said a few years ago in a conversation almost certainly not about wine. Why the French, he said, they don’t even have a word for entrepreneur!
Innovator of the Year
But apparently they do. Or at least that is the impression of the editors of Wine Enthusiast magazine. They recently announced the winners of their Wine Star 2008 awards and the Innovator of the Year is French, Jean-Charles Boisset, President of Boisset Family Estates. The citation reads:
Tetra-Paks, aluminum and PET plastic bottles are all part of Boisset Family Estate’s drive to reduce their carbon footprint. The launch this November of Mommessin and Bouchard Aîné Beaujolais Nouveau in PET bottles has not only created a stir in the traditional wine industry, but has also continued a serious commitment. Jean-Charles Boisset, president of Boisset Family Estates, whose headquarters are in Nuits-Saint-Georges, Burgundy, France, launched Tetra-Paks of French Rabbit wine in 2005. Infinitely recyclable, the aluminum packs weigh less than half the weight of a conventional bottle. For his contribution to the environment through his company’s innovative use of packaging, Jean-Charles Boisset has been awarded Wine Enthusiast’s first Wine Star Award for Innovation.
Boisset Family Estates is a multinational wine company with roots in Burgundy and interests in Italy (Batasiolo) and California (several properties including DeLoach and Lyeth). I follow Boisset because it seems to me that they are real entrepreneurs — moving in many directions at once, reflecting the many forces at work in wine world today.
The Wine Star 2008 award highlights sustainability-driven innovations, for example, but Boisset is also moving seriously toward biodynamic viticulture (at DeLoach, for example) and experimenting with new marketing models. It’s easy to be cynical about wine innovations, but it is pretty clear that new ideas can prevail in the wine market if they are very good ideas. And if the time is right. This is the lesson the screw cap’s success. Maybe more environmentally friendly “bottles” will be next.
The 70-70-70 Rule
Jean-Charles Boisset argues that using traditional glass containers with cork closures makes little sense — either environmentally or economically — for most of the wine sold today. He observes that at least 70 percent of wine retails for $12-$10 or less (probably much more than 70 percent, I suspect) and 70 percent is consumed within three hours of purchase. Finally, 70 percent of the production cost of these low price wines is in the packaging, not the wine itself.
These wines are quotidian pleasures, purchased for quick consumption. Heavy, expensive “traditional” packaging makes little sense for 70-70-70 wines. Producers, consumers and their environment would all likely benefit if these wines were packaged and sold in ways that reflect their real consumer product function, not a false elite identity. Wine will have come of age, some argue, when it no longer needs the borrowed prestige of the heavy bottle or a faux-tradition label.
False Dichotomy
What I most appreciate about Boisset is the fact that it is difficult to put the company in a box. Is it an Old World winery? Well, yes of course, based on geography. Is it New World? Well, yes but not just because it owns properties in California. Its marketing innovations have a distinct New World flavor and its entrepreneurial spirit would make Adam Smith smile.
There is nothing particular Old World about quality and terroir or New World about innovation. It’s all part of the blend and always has been — even in France. No wonder they have a word for it.
[Note: In case you missed the irony of the opening paragraph, entrepreneur is a French term.]