On 11/18/13 5:15 PM, Helpful person wrote:

> .... It's a bit like the Californians believing
> their wine compares favorably with the French. No matter what they
> think, price for price, the French wine is miles ahead. Anyone who has
> traveled in both places will understand.

My wife and I drink a bottle of wine every night, and we travel
extensively in France at least every other year. We are huge fans of
Cahors, Sancerre, and several lesser known French wine regions.

And as a general premise, you are simply wrong. California produces a
huge amount of wonderful wine which compares quite favorably to most
French wine. In particular, CA zinfandel stands level with anything, and
Santa Barbara pinot noirs are absolutely superb, albeit in a bigger,
less austere style than most burgundies.

You are correct that the primary problem with CA wine is that most of it
is overpriced. But French wine is equally overpriced, which is why wine
production and exports from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile,
and South Africa are increasing so rapidly. And the primary problem with
French wine is that the French industry is still recovering from six or
seven decades of overproduction, mostly to bottle enough plonk to
satisfy unsophisticated English palates. There's a lot of plain old bad
wine in France, and much -- if not most -- of it comes from Bordeaux.

-- Larry