What to order for a group of curious wine people? A magnum of Olivier Cousin’s wine. Expressive? More like attitude, style, nouvelle-vague, protests, youth, 3rd day t-shirts, stripes, dirt, sneakers, hilarity, reasons and non-reasons.

Breton = old name for Cabernet Franc

AOC = Appellation Olivier Cousin (not Appellation Origine Controllee)

Anjou = appellation where his vineyard is located, in Loire. Not allowed to cite on Vin de Table (which he calls Vin d’Ici on the bottle)

For these reasons, Olivier Cousin was jailed, since he went against the strict regulations of French Wine Law. To many, especially in the natural wine movement in France, he’s become somewhat of a David in the fight against Goliath, where the giant is the AOC structure that he claims has succumb to the power and corruption of the international business of wine trade. This structure was created to attach quality and integrity to the wines that were born out of each appellation. Is it worth it to make a stand against industrial wines? Is it necessary? Well, it gets you thinking about how things work, not just in wine, but in whatever piece of the world you’re in. An easy take away: whatever you do, have your reasons for doing it.

Read more about Olivier’s case here: http://www.jennyandfrancois.com/2013/10/03/why-olivier-cousins-case-is-a-big-deal/