I’ve driven by the Saint Emilion Union de Producteurs dozens of times in the last five months. Today was the day to check them out. With the tagline, “Métier d’Art, Vigneron”, how could I resist.
The Saint Emilion Union de Producteur coopértif was formed in 1931 by six top producers led by Robert Villepigue of Château Figeac, one of the oldest châteaux in all of Bordeaux. Today, it is situated at the foot of the village of Saint Emilion and boasts to house more than 160 producers and process more than 750 hectares of fruit (38,000 hl of wine), annually from 5 Appellations:Bordeaux Rouge, Bordeaux Supérieur Rouge, Côtes de Castillon, Saint-Emilion and Saint-Emilion Grand Cru.
It’s capacity and diversity, combined with my own ideas about next-gen mesh cooperatives, made the Saint Emilion UdP an interesting visit.
In a traditional cooperative, winegrowers sell their fruit to the cooperative which is vinified and blended under the cooperative’s brand. The average grower might be paid ~€1/kg for their fruit, end of transaction. The typical cooperative grower farms around about one hectare. Not enough quantity to establish a marketable brand.
But, what if you are a grower of higher quality and quantity than the regional average? You either find a recognized brand to buy your fruit or go it alone. Not so if you are a grower in Saint Emilion. You can join the ‘union’ and maintain your château/clos/maison brand and benefit from the economies of scale and vinify, bottle and sell your wine at their state-of-the-art facility. (Note: I did not determine the UdP’s pound-of-flesh for such a benefit)
Admittedly, I’m sadly no longer impressed by rows of temperature-controlled stainless steel fermenters, pressers, sorters, pumps, gears and gadgets. Just tools of the trade to be used, cleaned and maintained for me now. Yes, the honeymoon is over.
So, in this instance, I was more interested in the customer facing element of the operations: The Red Envelope-esk Tasting Room / Retail Shop. Not on par with my Millésime experience, but remarkable nonetheless.
At the UdP, you are treated with a complimentary tasting of their own wine brands. Unfortunately, none of the single château wines, whose brands were unrecognizable to me, were available for tasting. (Suggestion to the UdP: Showcase one single château a day/week/month. Perhaps have the producer come in to talk about the wines/fruit/terroir. — side note: same suggestion I made to Planete Bordeaux).
So, of the eight or so coop-branded wines, I choose to try two of each of the extremes.
At the low end of the spectrum, I found the Royal Saint-Emilion and CôtesRocheuses to be fruity, overly-acidic, light generic wines. Expectable for their price point. Admissible but not agreeable.
At the top of their pyramid, the Aurelius and Galius were pleasing and more interesting. They happened to be aged and have spent more time in oak. The fruit-juicyness was consumed by the oak and sour-patch-kids acidity was malo’d away. Just the way I prefer.
In short, the difference between €5 and €15 is clearly apparent in the wine of the UdP, as one would expect. Not exactly on my list of must-visits, but I’d definitely venture back for a tasting of their single château wines.
