French crisis Oh yes, that's a really sad story... and although there is some truth in blaming the authorities for not promoting wine drinking as a part of savoir-faire or even savoir-boire (Monsieur Chirac prefers beer to wine!), growers should ask themselves why 1. the world needs hundreds of french appellations? obviously regional appellations give a clou to what you might expect in a bottle, and wine amateurs can (pretend?) to distinguish between a Margaux and a Saint-Julien, but who can tell the difference between a Montagne-Saint-Emilion and a Puisseguin-Saint-Emilion. Differences within the Clos de Vougeot are probably bigger according to the talent and greed of the grower that the difference between a Latricière-Chambertin and a Chambertin-Clos de Bèze from the same grower. 2. restaurant owners discourage wine consumption through hefty mark-ups? Pretending that they earn almost nothing on the food they sell, the price of the wine bottle is multiplied by 3, sometimes by 5 or 6 to allow for a decent overall income. Why should wine-drinkers subsidize the meals of teetotallers? 3. they produce so much junk for French supermarkets? even if their côtes de castillon or their bordeaux supérieur sells for a price that would not cover the production costs, the smart professional wine buyers will still find someone who delivers a comparable product at an even lower price. What applies to tomatoes and cabbage is also valid for wine! 4. some estates are still extremely succesful: for many types of wine, some French growers still produce the benchmark wines: almost nothing compares to a top-notch claret, a fine Burgundy, a great Rhône wine and even a well made Muscadet has few equivalents in the world. But instead of getting an inspiration from the best producers in their own region, growers are trying to be the Chileans and the Aussies by the own game, i.e. with varietal wines. If you consider the average size of a French wine farm, it is pretty unlikely that they will reconquer shelf space in the supermarkets, but is that really the objective? Shouldn't they copy the German model by fostering estate visits and direct sales? Best regards Yves nationwide the winemaker." sales California, was said. growing Nonetheless, consumption, no allowed let lower 
|
|||||||
