Grand Alliances

France joins the wine rush

More than a century ago, a group of French oenologists toured the California coastal region and reported in the prestigious Revue Vinicole Internationale: "California has a climate that makes it capable some day of becoming a serious competitor to France in the production of fine wines." Some day may finally have arrived. Now three of the proudest names in French wine-making have established West Coast annexes: Moet-Hennessey, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild and Piper-Heidsieck.

Moet arrived in 1973, laying out some $20 million over the years for 1,500 Napa Valley acres on which to produce a sparkling white wine called Chandon Brut. This past spring, in a significant departure from Bordeaux practice, Baron Philippe de Rothschild started a joint venture with Napa Valley Vintner Robert Mondavi to produce 5,000 cases a year of quality Cabernet Sauvignon, which will carry a label with the two signatures.

The latest to join the California wine rush is Piper-Heidsieck. Two weeks ago, the French firm announced a $6 million menage `a trois with Renfield Importers and Sonoma Vineyards that will create a sparkling son of Heidsieck to be called Piper Sonoma. It will sell for $10-$12 a bottle, vs. $17 or more for the company's Continental bubbly.

French vintners are attracted to California by the still vast U.S. market. Despite the growing popularity of wine in the U.S., Americans drink only 2 gal. of it a year per capita, vs. 29 gal. for the French. Europeans are also drawn by the large tracts of California's excellent uncultivated land. In the 86,000-acre Champagne district of northeastern France, Piper, for example, has only seven acres of the precious chalky soil. Now Piper has an investment in 1,200 acres of land in the Napa Valley.

None of these Franco-American producers plans to sell his California quaff in Europe. Steven Spurrier, owner of the Paris wine school L'Academie du Vin, believes that to be a wise decision. Says he: "Moet would be crazy to import Chandon Brut into France. In my opinion it is much better than their own Moet et Chandon. They would be competing against themselves with a better-tasting wine at a better price."

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