Sorry - butting in here. Couldn't resist the opportunity to abuse Californian wine. The worst wine I've ever tasted was a Californian white - tasted like a heap of resinous wood, and no other even slightly redeeming flavours. But then , one of the best was from Calif., too - a dessert wine from an independent, hippy-typre producer.
It's true that the markups on French wine abroad are enormous. I've been shocked in the UK to see prices of £10 for a bottle of tanker wine I'd be reluctant to pay 4 Euros for here. I do wonder whose fault it is. The French, for trying to sell mediocre wine as a stylish product? (Hey, the world's too sophisticated to fall for that one any more.) The New World producers working in cahoots with the supermarkets to fix prices? I don't know. I love French wine; I love its individuality and the wide range of variations between and even within regions; I love that you can enjoy quaffing loads of cheap rose one day, because that's what you feel like, and a fine Burgundy or something the next. And there's so many great vins de table that nobody outside France has ever heard of. Serious marketing and publicity problem? Dunno. But they need to think seriously, as the industry's in crisis (they say). However, I do not think that going down the homogenised, consistent flavour type of wine that we get from e.g. Australia is the way to go for France.
BTW, I just bought a 2005 St Emilion Grand Cru Chateau Le Grave Figeac which is going to be super in four years or so. Keep and eye out for the 2005 vintages - they're nowhere near ready yet, but once they are, everyone says it's going to prove a very good year indeed.
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Date: 2007-11-12 08:18 am (UTC)It's true that the markups on French wine abroad are enormous. I've been shocked in the UK to see prices of £10 for a bottle of tanker wine I'd be reluctant to pay 4 Euros for here. I do wonder whose fault it is. The French, for trying to sell mediocre wine as a stylish product? (Hey, the world's too sophisticated to fall for that one any more.) The New World producers working in cahoots with the supermarkets to fix prices? I don't know. I love French wine; I love its individuality and the wide range of variations between and even within regions; I love that you can enjoy quaffing loads of cheap rose one day, because that's what you feel like, and a fine Burgundy or something the next. And there's so many great vins de table that nobody outside France has ever heard of. Serious marketing and publicity problem? Dunno. But they need to think seriously, as the industry's in crisis (they say). However, I do not think that going down the homogenised, consistent flavour type of wine that we get from e.g. Australia is the way to go for France.
BTW, I just bought a 2005 St Emilion Grand Cru Chateau Le Grave Figeac which is going to be super in four years or so. Keep and eye out for the 2005 vintages - they're nowhere near ready yet, but once they are, everyone says it's going to prove a very good year indeed.