Cornichon in the Cousignac vineyards, Rhone map (Vivarais is on western bank), Raphael Pommier
Rhone wines, from the syrah-based Côte Rôtie to the grenache-based Châteauneuf-du-Pape, grow along the ancient trade routes between the Mediterranean and northern Europe. They're diverse (17 grape varieties) yet they share plenty of characteristics: they're full-flavored and robust. And for the past couple of decades, they've also shared in a remarkable promotion guided by a professional umbrella organization, Inter-Rhone.
Here in the Vivarais, in the family-owned vineyards of Notre Dame de Cousignac, Raphael Pommier and his American wife Rachel produce some terrific wines. (More about Rachel in a future post.) But they're going to lose a huge helping hand from Inter-Rhone's ten-year-old promotional campaign in the UK, which features a wine-drinking hippo and hedgehog: "Now that the mood in the UK regarding alcohol has changed so much, we were worried that we might be perceived as targeting the young," says Inter-Rhone's marketing manager. So the hippo and hedgehog will be retired.
Funny, "targeting younger drinkers" is exactly what the wine industry needs, no? Hard to believe, it was just six months ago that the Brits hashed over the same question when it came to packaging Bordeaux in a box (reported here on Cornichon), with much the same answers, too. Night-night, Nanny State.
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