Since September 2022 the world of natural wine in France has officially been feminist and inclusive. That was when the sector's new Syndicat de Défense des Vins Naturels - it has 261 members - adopted a motion affirming that “natural wine is about values, about a genuine ethical code which is not simply technical but involves absolutely all of its ecosystem”.
The motion went on: “The growing presence (of women) does not in any way justify them being the target of certain men who, on the pretext of being under the influence of alcohol or taking advantage of a festive atmosphere, or by abusing their privileged position in the sector, act as genuine predators and assault them verbally and even sexually, all too often with complete impunity.”
Until now the world of natural wine has been better known to the rest of us as a place of endless debates about the levels of sulphites that can be used in wine, or for fierce opposition regarding the traditional appellation system of labelling wines.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
In recent months, though, an altogether different mood has pervaded this community of 'free' wines. As in several other work domains, more and more female professionals have come forward to denounce sexism and sexual violence within the sector. In return they say are encountering threats and pressure to keep quiet.
Lots of noise but little real support
On the face of it, the small world of natural wine seems to be a natural home for the feminist cause. More and more people in the sector have issued publications and taken stances on the issue. These public declarations have come in podcasts, a carton strip book which attacks everyday sexism ('In Vino Femina – Les tribulations d’une femme dans le monde du vin', by Alessandra Fottorino and Céline Pernot-Burlet published by Hachette in 2022), a 'Manifeste pour un vin inclusif,' ('Manifesto for inclusive wine') by Sandrine Goeyvaerts (published by Nouriturfu in 2015 and 2021), plus activist wines with provocative labels ('Feminist Whores', for example), a wine salon reserved just for women winemakers (Canons, at Nantes in west France, since 2019), and through the Instagram account 'Paye ton pinard' from the association of the same name, run by Isabelle Perraud.
That online account shares messages attacking sexist behaviour, microaggressions and, in some cases, harassment. But the comments remain anonymous “and we can't yet speak of a #MeToo movement, with a before and after [atmosphere]”, says winemaker Isabelle Perraud. In fact, Sandrine Goeyvaerts, a Belgian wine seller and author of 'Manifeste pour un vin inclusif,' says: “The movement is in retreat.”
Yet it was as recently as January 25th this year that a wine seller and blogger called Vincent Pousson was convicted for insulting Sandrine Goeyvaerts – a verdict he is appealing against. In a Facebook post in December 2020 he had described her as a “shrew” and a “lowlife” among other degrading descriptions after an article in which she had criticised the sexism of one of his publications 'Vins à forte poitrine' ('Full-breasted wines').
Sandrine Goeyvaerts says that she was very satisfied with the verdict, but much less so with the lack of support she had received in the meantime. “I had some support, but I also had some negative reaction, and a form of apathy from people I thought were more open. I expected more support,” she admits.
For nearly two years this case affected her health and her family and professional life. “It's been brutal,” she says. “I read things such as 'well done'.”
The Sébastien Riffault affair
Meanwhile winemaker Isabelle Perraud, president of the association 'Paye ton pinard', is being sued for defamation by winemaker Sébastien Riffault over Instagram posts that referred to claims of harassment and sexual assault in Denmark.
It is a complex case, with no legal complaint being deposed against Riffault himself, whose name was never published. However, he was identified by social media and through professional links. Since then Riffault has been blacklisted by numerous restaurants, wine sellers and wine importers.
Isabelle Perraud had used the Instagram account @paietonpinard to share articles and comments on this story, with the avowed aim of getting it known in France. Sébastien Riffault subsequently took legal action and on September 22nd last year a court in Bourges in central France granted an injunction ordering Isabelle Perraud to take down all the posts. The substantive issue of whether those posts were actually defamatory is being considered by another court, where proceedings are continuing.
Sébastien Riffault has received considerable support over the case. An opinion article backing him was published by the Instagram account @soutienasebastienriffault and signed by around forty well-known winemakers, including Olivier Cousin and Alexandra Bain.
Meanwhile two of Isabelle Perraud's witnesses have received emails from journalists asking them to react to the possibility that - if she were convicted - she might turn on them and claim damages. Those journalists do exist; one works in France and the other in Belgium. However, according to Mediapart's information neither of them wrote the emails or had even heard about the story beforehand.
Those journalists have now taken legal action over identity theft. “Virtually all friends and supporters have received strange emails of that type. It's exhausting, you mistrust everyone,” says Isabelle Perraud.
On a different note, the president of the Syndicat de Défense des Vins Naturels, Jacques Carroget, received a call from winemaker Olivier Cousin - a declared supporter of Sébastien Riffault - who had not appreciated the organisations' 'feminist' stance. Cousin had already gone to the trouble of calling the editor-in-chief of the Revue du vin de France publication which, like other specialist media, had decided not to publish anything on the issue as no formal complaint had been lodged. Contacted by Mediapart, Olivier Cousin declined to comment, stated that he had “nothing to do” with the issue.
Antoine Gerbelle, a wine journalist from the website 'Tellement soif' and France Inter radio, took a similar stance. “My world is the world of wine,” he said. “Not news items about wine. People buy media about wine because they like wine,” he said.
“They want me to keep quiet, they don't want us to speak about it any more, they want us to move onto something else,” says Isabelle Perraud, who herself has received several calls and messages from her professional network asking her to “stop this tittle-tattle”. The winemaker says she is “disgusted” by the attitude in her profession. “They're cowards,” she says. “They're afraid. But afraid of what exactly? They're afraid that it could also happen to them.”
The end of a utopian view of natural wine sector
“There you go, you're going to tarnish the image of natural wine again. Frankly, it's no worse that elsewhere,” several people have told Mediapart during the course of this investigation. Jean-Hugues Bretin, directer general of the Raisin natural wine app, noted cautiously that “perhaps there's a form of tolerance for this kind of behaviour that you don't find in other more conventional sectors”.
To begin with, some people, especially winemakers, benefit from a certain aura within the trade. “It's a very small world and the winemakers quickly become stars,” says Jean-Charles Halley, a wine seller from Caen in north-west France. “They feel they're untouchable. I've already heard it said plenty of times that 'yes, I know what he does but his wines are fab!'” he says. This is the wine world's version of the debate that exists elsewhere about whether you can - or should - separate the man from the artist.
The world of natural wine is also a “relaxed” environment, in which some events are unrestrained affairs and at which “naturally” everyone drinks wine. “For me these are places where I go to work and that's it,” says Jean-Hugues Bretin. “But others go there to get plastered and party. I've no problem with that, on the contrary, it's a space for people to be free. But on condition that they're not toxic.”
“When I discovered natural wine, fifteen years ago, I was struck by the kind of 'freedom' that women had in the middle of these men,” recalls Éric Morain, who has just quit his profession as a barrister. “Later, I became acquainted with all these people...” His courtroom experience has taught him one thing: “We pin stereotypes on different areas, forgetting that cases of sexual assault have nothing to do with sex and everything to do with power. And that nine out of ten rapes involve people who know each other very well. So why would [the world of] natural wine be any different?”
The outpouring of accusations has, more than anything else, left all fans of natural wine with a bit of a hangover. “I sincerely believed in it,” admits Antonin Iommi-Amunategui, a publisher, author and organiser of natural wine salons, who has discretely crossed off several winemakers and their produce from his wine shop and events. “They're greener, more organic so clearly they're more progressive on social issues ... but no. They're often not very refined guys and if on top of that they're turned into stars, and you add alcohol to the mix, they lose it.”
In such a context feminists are rarely welcome. “Each woman who opens her mouth is told 'you shout your mouth off too much'. A large section of the sector are dragging their feet over the issue,” says Antonin Iommi-Amunategui. “They're a bit condescending towards feminism. There's no intelligence, the line is: they're over-reacting, we're partying, stop being a pain in the arse.”
As a result, even though there are more and more accusations from women, the number of convictions in the world of natural wine can be counted on the fingers of one hand. It is true that sometimes a form of economic sanction is applied at the discretion of specialist wine sellers and other outlets, who can cancel orders without explanation (and vice versa). “But that's still difficult. We're also bound by what customers expect from us,” explains Sandrine Goeyvaerts. “Who is 100% free?”
Despite all the talk of feminism and despite the motion adopted by the Syndicat de Défense des Vins Naturels, activists such as Sandrine Goeyvaerts and Isabelle Perraud are today deeply pessimistic. Sandrine Goeyvaerts says: “We're calling for an end to rapes and the response we get is some guys asking if it's okay or not to invite a winemaker accused of sexual assault to a [wine] salon or to drink his wine...”
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- The French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter