NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ - London, United Kingdom, 2010/07/15 - CIVA the trade body promoting Alsace wines, has elected Rémy Gresser as its new President. Gresser aims during his term of office to review labelling to simplify Alsace wines for the consumer and give ecological issues a higher priority.

Rémy Gresser has been elected President of CIVA (Comité Interprofessionnel des Vins d’Alsace), the trade body promoting Alsace wines, at the General Assembly held in Colmar in June 2010. Gresser, succeeds Jean-Nicolas Schaeffer who headed CIVA for the last three years as a representative of the negociant members.

Gresser runs a family estate in Andlau and is a firm believer in biodynamics which he applies on his 11ha. He is also a pioneer of oenotourism, having organised the first visit at the Andlau vineyards in 1982. Passionate about Alsace, he aims to promote its regional specificities.
Gresser, 52, has been involved in Alsace wine organisations since his early 20s, having already been the President of CIVA in 2004/2005.

Gresser has clear priorities for his term of office. He plans to make Alsace wine labels easier to read and give ecological issues a higher priority. He is determined to encourage debate within the industry and would like producers, negociants and cooperatives to reflect on their core production to define the range of Alsace wines and to collectively develop the image of the region.

“The wealth of Alsace lies in its diversity: we have a great array of wine styles, grape varieties, and terroirs. Alsace sells 150 million bottles around the world; these should be used as an equivalent of a business card for our industry” he explains. “It is up to us to have a more commercial approach.” His ambition is to build up a strong generic Alsace brand to promote the whole range of Alsace wines. Gresser adds, “The Alsace brand should appear on every bottle via a logo or a quality mark offering consumers a guarantee of authenticity.” Gresser favours a further review of Alsace wine labelling to specify the style of the wine, its level of sweetness, and food and wine matching suggestions to demystify Alsace wines for the consumer.

Despite a tough economical environment in 2009, Alsace managed to hold its own, and thanks to a large proportion of direct sales and the boom of Crémant d’Alsace, sales worldwide were only down by 1.2%. Latest export figures from French Customs released by CIVA, for the period of January to May 2010, show a 3.8% increase in volume over the same period in 2009, and a 32.3% increase for UK exports.

A large part of the CIVA's budget is dedicated to communications with €3.9 million for the export market and €2.38 million for mainland France.

About Alsace Wines
The Alsace region (alsacewines.co.uk, alsacewine.com) is located in the North East corner of France and has 15,500 ha of vineyards. The region, which is famous for its production of aromatic white wines, boasts 5,000 producers.

The aromatic wines of Alsace are ideal with Asian cuisine thanks to their purity of fruit, good acidity and lack of tannin. They also go well with classic French cuisine as well as many other national dishes from African to Scandinavian; from American to Southern European.

Alsace wines (alsacewine.com) are generally made from seven grape varieties:
• Sylvaner
• Riesling
• Pinot Blanc
• Pinot Gris
• Gewurztraminer
• Muscat d’Alsace
• Pinot Noir

These are featured on the labels of the bottles. Each wine is made 100% from the named single grape variety. Wines from Alsace stand out on the shelf as they come in flute shaped bottles, the “flûte d’Alsace”. The Alsace offer consists of a range of following categories:

- AC Alsace: Made mostly from single grape varieties and named after the grape from which they are made, or occasionally made from a well-balanced blend of grape varieties from the region.

- AC Alsace Grand Cru: Made from grapes grown to particularly strict standards for yield and quality, and within fifty precisely designated vineyards.

- AC Crémant d’Alsace: The sparkling wine of the region and second only to Champagne in France, AC Crémant d’Alsace celebrated its 30th birthday in 2006.

- Vendanges Tardives / Sélection de Grains Nobles: Late-harvest sweet wines, with intense, complex aromas, powerful structure and a long finish.

Agency / Source: Sopexa UK

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