Why one French wine estate has chosen to exit the appellation system permanently

omaine Scamandre in Vauvert, southern France, has announced in no uncertain terms that it intends to permanently withdraw from the Costières de Nîmes appellation, “to shed the constraints imposed on us by appellation rules”, explains Franck Renouard, the estate’s owner. “It’s nothing personal with the Costières de Nîmes appellation itself, but we want to free ourselves from the shackles of appellation rules in general, because they have prevented us from seeing the initiatives we had taken through to their conclusion”, he stresses spontaneously.

A dental implant specialist when he took over the property in 2003, he has done everything he can since the outset to stray off the well-trodden path. Initially, “many industry friends and advisors recommended that we produce wines with an appellation to give customers a point of reference for our wines”, Renouard explains. He remembers receiving a lot of negative feedback about the Costières area “simply due to the lack of history that you find in Bordeaux or Burgundy, whereas the Costières is an outstanding location for growing vines”, he continues, adding that his wines struggle to command higher prices specifically because of “the lack of recognition of the Costières appellation among many wine merchants and restaurateurs”.