France – Damming report on pesticides doesn’t tell the whole story

(Journee-Vinicole) - It’s the kind of news story that sends a chill down the spine of wine growers around the world: revelations about traces of pesticides in wines. French consumer magazine ‘Que Choisir’ announced in a report published this week that it had found pesticides in each of the 92 bottles it had analysed.

The report does go on to say that only minute quantities of the 33 molecules identified in the wines had been found. Unlike other foodstuffs there are no maximum pesticide limits for wines in Europe, with many traces of wine making aids or pesticides eliminated during the wine making process. But a report of this magnitude in a reputable magazine will undoubtedly have a major impact on the perception of French wines by consumers, particularly at a time of the year when all the major grocery stores are holding their Autumn wine festival.

For the uninitiated, it has to be said that the figures are quite scary: ‘Que Choisir’ found as many as 14 different pesticides in a single bottle of wine. There was also no correlation between a wine’s price and the amount of pesticides found, so buying an expensive wine provides no guarantee of drinking a pesticide-free wine. There did seem to be some connection however between particular wine regions and the amount of pesticides found in the wines. Regions with potentially challenging weather conditions such as Bordeaux, generally registered higher levels of pesticides than more southerly areas with a predominantly Mediterranean climate. Languedoc-Roussillon, for instance, fared relatively well, especially appellations like Corbières and Minervois. Due to its climatic advantage, it has to be said though that there were also more organic wines in the Languedoc-Roussillon sample than elsewhere, even though the wines were chosen at random. A wine like Gérard Bertrand’s organic Pays d’Oc Cabernet-Sauvignon Autrement brand retailing for just 4.50 euros came out well in the study. In fact, most of the organic wines tested contained very few traces of pesticides and they may well have come from a neighbouring non-organic wine farm.