Luxembourg’s winemakers are facing tough competition from around the world, says André Mehlen, the new director of Domaines Vinsmoselle since 1 February. Before joining Vinsmoselle, Mehlen was responsible for quality control at the Institut Viti-Vinicole for many years.
In the current context, Mehlen thinks that Vinsmoselle should consider whether its numerous product lines still make sense or whether it would be preferable to phase out some of them. “Domaines Vinsmoselle could certainly compete with private winemakers in terms of quality,” its new director said, “but high-end alone would not make sense for Vinsmoselle, as the production is too large.”
For Mehlen, there is no doubt that the whole line needs to be reviewed because “it needs to be clear what Domaines Vinsmoselle stands for.”
According to the new director, “Domaines Vinsmoselle has learned its lesson” from the tensions that resulted from last year’s lost lawsuit against the independent winegrowers over the intended name change to the range “Les vignerons de la Moselle.”
The new director is aware that reorganising the large Domaines Vinsmoselle cooperative is not something that can be done overnight. In the interview, he compared Vinsmoselle to a large ocean liner like the Titanic that has to do a U-turn. “It’s certainly not a small motorboat that turns quickly,” Mehlen said, adding nevertheless that “even with such a large structure, you can – and we should – attempt new things without running a great risk.”
For example, Vinsmoselle recently launched two new non-alcoholic wines, for which demand is growing.
The cooperative reacts to market changes, Mehlen explained, even if it has not yet noticed any noticeable impact on sales as a result of challenges such as “Dry January.”
“Climate change is a big unknown for Luxembourgish winegrowers, because we don’t know yet where we are heading,” Mehlen stated. Major weather extremes are particularly problematic, including long periods of drought alternating with heavy rainfall, but also sudden temperature drops. All of this makes it difficult to predict which types of vines would be best to plant, according to the new director of Vinsmoselle.
The temperature fluctuations are significant, Mehlen explained, with the result that the character of white wines is changing while making red wine increasingly becomes an option in Luxembourg.
The wine sector also has to deal with inflation, especially due to the rising production costs for glass or corks, for example. Domaines Vinsmoselle needs to look for ways to save costs, both in production and across the cooperative’s three production sites, the new director stated.
With regard to the planned tightening of plant protection rules by the European Union, Mehlen said that he hopes that the EU has not yet said its last word. “We are working in a monoculture, where we have to produce a lot.”
