(TDB) - High profile wine consultants are like “plastic surgeons” trying to make ugly wines beautiful, according to one French producer.

Speaking to the drinks business during a visit to the Loire Valley last week, Thierry Germain, owner of Domaines des Roches in Saumur, said: “France has lost the identity of its vineyards and terroirs because of the big name consultants. Modern winemaking is killing the ancestral tradition.

“Their approach is moving away from rural traditions and towards technology. They don’t pay attention to the vineyards or the people working in them and end up stealing the limelight from the viticulturists, who are the real protagonists.

“Wine consultants are like plastic surgeons trying to make ugly wines beautiful. There’s a trend at the moment for trying to create beautiful wines over authentic wines. The result is that they end up tasting fake and artificial.”

Germain, whose 28 hectare Saumur estate has been biodynamic since 2000, believes Bordeaux in particular, is guilty of making overcooked wines to please certain critics.

“The Bordelais are guilty of burning their wines with too high alcohol levels. The nature of Cabernet Franc on the Right Bank and Cabernet Sauvignon on the Left has changed in Bordeaux,” he told db.

“Winemakers are exposing their berries to too much sun and as a result, the wines being made are over-ripe and like body builders in their nature.

“I was born in Bordeaux and tried working there – I worked at Figeac for a while but I hated it,” he added.

Germain believes the answer to the current problem in the wine world lies in going back to making simpler wines that express where they come from.