Los Angeles Times
WINE & SPIRITS

Who's killing the great wines of France?

Facing a crisis, the French wine industry is finally forced to loosen its
grasp on tradition.

By Corie Brown
Times Staff Writer

March 2, 2005

The notion that French wine has fallen into the hands of philistines is sure
to find an audience when the documentary "Mondovino" is released in L.A.
theaters April 29. Director Jonathan Nossiter belabors that idea for two
hours, 17 minutes and 11 seconds, cutting back and forth between crusty
traditionalists in worn sweaters and suspendered trousers who absolutely
love terroir and their spiritual opposites: chain-smoking pragmatists in
fancy cars who hawk modern methods of manipulating wine.

"Mondovino" is a lot of things; subtle, however, isn't one of them.

The French wine industry is in crisis. More comfortable basking in tradition
than questioning it, French winemakers are rethinking the rules governing
how they make and name their wines, the grapes they grow and how they are
grown. Even the look of their wine labels is being reconsidered. The French
government is scrambling to promote its wines in America, even ‹ gasp ‹
considering a Madison Avenue advertising campaign. (Champagne already has
one, and it's the one French region for which sales are actually climbing.)

The debate central to "Mondovino" ‹ one that's raging across France's
storied wine regions ‹ only appears to be a tug of war between art and
commerce. Those stark contrasts grow fuzzy in the gray light of the real
issue: The world is not buying enough French wine. Market forces aren't
known for encouraging individuality ‹ Velveeta sells better than Taleggio.
But for the first time in the history of French wine, the demands of the
global market are an unavoidable fact.

"It has taken a while for our producers to understand that there is a
problem," says Christian Berger, the agricultural counselor with the French
Embassy in Washington, D.C. And even now that they have accepted that fact,
"there is no unanimity at all on what should be done."

Wine looms large on the French economic landscape. Representing 12% of
France's agricultural production, it accounts for $9.9 billion of the
country's gross domestic product. French wine sales worldwide have been
gradually eroding for years. The situation became a crisis last year when
wine exports (excluding Champagne) fell 6.7% in volume and 9.2% in value on
the heels of 2003 sales, which were considered dismal, according to the
French Federation of Exporters of Wines & Spirits.

Making matters worse, French wine consumption has dropped to historic lows,
with the country drinking half as much wine per capita as it did in 1960. An
aggressive federal campaign against drunk driving is part of the reason,
according to Berger. Strict new standards, more stringent than those in
California, have the French thinking twice before having a second glass of
wine with dinner.

But the real problem is there's too much French wine. Hoping for a quick fix
in the region that appears to be hardest hit, the government is paying grape
growers in Bordeaux to rip up marginal vineyards and turn surplus wine into
industrial alcohol. So far, however, only 475 acres of a targeted 25,000
acres of vineyards have been plowed under. The government plans to distill a
whopping 250 million liters of wine from the abundant 2004 vintage into
alcohol, 10 times as much wine as would be distilled in a typical year; most
of it is labeled Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC). Still, it won't be
enough to sop up all of the surplus.

*

Altering the structure

Ultimately, it is the structure of the wine industry that must change,
according to René Renou, a Loire Valley winemaker and the current president
of the powerful National Committee for Wine of the AOC, the organization
charged with enforcing the country's strict regulations for the making of
premium wines. Renou has proposed a radical overhaul of the country's
winemaking rules ‹ the most sweeping changes since the AOC was codified in
1929 ‹ to give winemakers greater latitude in how they make and sell their
wines.

"People say I am burning the history of France," quips Renou. But perhaps
the better analogy is religion, he says, "like when they changed the way the
priest says Mass," referring to the Catholic Church's decision to abandon
Latin for modern languages in the 1960s. French wine sales are suffering, he
says, because France has failed to modernize its winemaking industry.

Renou advocates producing less AOC wine. Perhaps 10% of it isn't up to
minimum standards, he says. "We can't anymore tell the nice wine story to
people and not have it correspond to what is in the bottle," he says.

When pressed about how much wine he'd like to see taken off the market,
Renou backpedals. "We're France. If you push too far, winegrowers will riot.
They go on strike and shout in the streets. The politicians don't like it."
While there is no formal schedule for considering Renou's proposal, he says
the French government could enact it as early as this year.

It likely will take longer. "France acts as if it still has a monopoly on
wine and can insist that consumers learn our complicated wine story," says
Renou. "We have lived for centuries where the only problem was to make the
wine producer more comfortable. Today our problem is to make the customer
more comfortable. They buy whatever they like."

And they are buying American, Australian, Chilean, Argentine and South
African wines along with improved wines from Spain and Italy. For $10, these
wines may not equal fine French wine, says Renou, but they can be very good.
And from the point of view of the American consumer ‹ Renou likes to refer
to a grocery store shopper in Little Rock, Ark. ‹ they are infinitely easier
to comprehend.

"A second way to understand wine has been created by the New World. It's
about the grape type, the color, the sugar," he explains. In other words,
it's easier to understand Pinot Noir than to memorize the appellations of
Burgundy. "In Little Rock, wine is a quick, immediate pleasure, no dream, no
story, no explanation. The New World is more efficient. The French are not
prepared for this world," he says.

America matters because the U.S. spends more money on imported wine than
does any other market in the world. And while French wine sales have fallen
in America, overall consumption here is inching up. Americans now annually
consume roughly 10 bottles of wine each, up from seven bottles 10 years ago.
Compared with the French, who drink an average of 77 bottles a year, there
is plenty of room for the American market to grow.

The falling value of the dollar ‹ a 40% shift over the last three years ‹ is
making the American market more and more difficult to navigate. What was a
$10 bottle of French wine in 2001 now costs $14, taking into account the
shifting exchange rate. Wines from outside Europe haven't experienced the
same currency fluctuation, or the resulting price increases.

Most French vintners have cut their prices to try to keep their wines
competitively priced, according to American importers. But often that's not
enough. "With the 2000 vintage, I sold thousands of cases of Bordeaux wine
for $7 a bottle," says Steve Winfield, a Los Angeles-based importer who
sells only Bordeaux wines. "I'm scouting for wines with the 2003 vintage
that I can sell for $7, and they are hard to find. Everyone's margins are
squeezed."

There is no crisis for the best French wines, says Berger. "At the top of
the market, prices are a bit crazy, rising higher and higher every year with
no problem selling the wine. The difficulty is for the middle and lower end
segments. The global market for wine is more competitive there. There are
plenty of new producers."

And for these wines, America is the most important market. "The bulk of the
market is new to wine," says Berger. "They don't know much about it, and
they apparently like wines that are fruity with a lot of sugar. Our product
is not as well suited to this market as, say, Australian wine. French wine
is more subtle. We have no big brands. Our labels are difficult to read."

Bordeaux winemakers, says Berger, have been the most outspoken critics of
the changes proposed by Renou. After record sales of its celebrated 2000
vintage, "it has been hard for them to come down to earth," says Berger.
"The situation is very tense in Bordeaux."

*

Two branches of AOC?

Renou has proposed bifurcating the AOC into a higher and a lower level, or,
he says, they can be considered "the complex and the simple."

A new "excellence" category would require winemakers to follow more
stringent controls on wine grape growing and winemaking than current AOC
rules demand. The top 20% of current AOC winemakers likely would opt for
this "excellence" category, Renou estimates. This is the luxury market for
traditional wines, and "it must be protected," he says.

A second level of AOC wines, what Renou refers to as "normal" wines, would
be allowed to disregard many of the current AOC rules. These are the ones
that must compete with emerging international wines, he says. Winemakers who
opt for this category should be allowed to consider any grape-growing and
winemaking protocol. "Winemakers would propose their ideas to the National
Committee for Wine, and we would decide if those ideas would be permitted,"
says Renou. "Everything is open for discussion, while today it is prohibited
to even talk about these ideas."

That means the question of when or how to irrigate vineyards or what grapes
to plant ‹ variables that are tightly regulated now throughout France ‹
would be considered. There would be fewer restrictions on what grapes could
be blended together in particular wines as well. While Bordeaux and Rhône
blends would remain tightly controlled for the "excellence" AOC, second-tier
wines could have broad latitude with what could be considered for their
blends. In appellations in which blending is not now allowed, it would be
permitted in the second tier. Rules also would be relaxed concerning
blending grapes harvested from different parts of a region or even across
regions, among other things, according to Renou.

What about allowing the addition of oak chips during barrel aging to
exaggerate certain flavors, as is practiced in the U.S. and Australia, for
instance? "Why not?" says Renou. "We have to allow people to make decisions
for themselves about their own wine."

At the same time, Renou would like the French wine industry to police itself
more aggressively on quality. Producers who ignore vineyard yield limits, a
common occurrence today, says Renou, should not be allowed to call their
wine AOC. This overproduction "must disappear," he says. "If we want to say
we are the best, each bottle must be checked."

Renou's proposal also would relax AOC labeling rules to allow varietal names
and other New World conventions. While there are AOCs (such as Alsace) that
use varietal labeling, most don't. Winemakers have to opt out of the AOC,
labeling their wines simply vin de table, to do these things now.

The French government isn't waiting for the AOC rules to change. It is
taking small but significant first steps to help French producers sell their
wines in the United States. "We didn't usually attend wine events in
America," says Berger. "Now we are going, asking for advice on what we
should do to improve sales. The idea is to give our producers a higher
profile."

Last month, the government sponsored its first five-city sales tour ‹ Miami,
New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles ‹ for producers eager to find
American importers. It's the kind of dog and pony show the Spanish and
Australian wine industries have been taking on the road for at least a
decade. In Los Angeles, 30 vintners poured wine tastings for distributors.

"We decided to be proactive," says Charlotte Selles-Simmons, a producer
whose family has been making wine in Beaujolais and Burgundy since 1820. She
recently redesigned the domaine's labels to make them more appealing to
Americans.

"We make it so difficult to buy French wine," she says. "Especially for the
$10-and-below wines. Showing the varietal name on the labels at this price
point is crucial. Then they don't have to get out their reading glasses,
they don't have to ask for help."

It's also about looking modern, she says. The bottle has to stand out, which
isn't easy in a crowded grocery store wine aisle. New World wine regions
have been doing it for years. Even Italy and Spain are sprucing up their
labels. If you don't do it, there is no hope of creating a brand name that
consumers will remember, Selles-Simmons says.

Selles-Simmons sells her wines through Trader Joe's, but she would like to
find a traditional distributor as well.

The model for Selles-Simmons? E.& J. Gallo's Red Bicyclette.

Gallo is showing us the way, says Berger. "Joe Gallo has the guts to believe
in French wine, to put his money there to make something happen. We are very
thankful for that," he says, noting that the Gallo wines produced in France
are increasing the sales of French wine in America.

Gallo, the savior of French wine? The chasm separating the French government
from the traditional vintners in "Mondovino" just got a little wider.


http://www.latimes.com/features/food...0,604988.story

Tam wrote:
> Los Angeles Times
> WINE & SPIRITS
>
> Who's killing the great wines of France?
>
> Facing a crisis, the French wine industry is finally forced to loosen
its
> grasp on tradition.
>

Thanks for the link.
It seems odd, though, that they don't make any mention of some peoples'
decision to boycott anything French.

Dan-O

In message .com>
"Dan The Man" > wrote:

>
> Tam wrote:
> > Los Angeles Times
> > WINE & SPIRITS
> >
> > Who's killing the great wines of France?
> >
> > Facing a crisis, the French wine industry is finally forced to loosen
> its
> > grasp on tradition.
> >
>
> Thanks for the link.
> It seems odd, though, that they don't make any mention of some peoples'
> decision to boycott anything French.
>
> Dan-O
>

Presumably because it has made little difference to anything or because
they think that it will be very short term.

This is totally OT but I do not understand the boycott anyway. After all
neither France nor the UK boycotted Americal goods because Eisenhower had a
sulk and opposed the Suez operation. I speak as a supporter of getting rid
of Saddam, whether or not he had WMD, but I don‘t see why the winegrowers or
cheesemakers of France should be penalised for the activities of their
government — let alone why anyone should cut off their nose to spite their
face in refusing to drink French wine.



Timothy Hartley

Timothy Hartley wrote:
> In message .com>
> "Dan The Man" > wrote:
>
> >
> > Tam wrote:
> > > Los Angeles Times
> > > WINE & SPIRITS
> > >
> > > Who's killing the great wines of France?
> > >
> > > Facing a crisis, the French wine industry is finally forced to
loosen
> > its
> > > grasp on tradition.
> > >
> >
> > Thanks for the link.
> > It seems odd, though, that they don't make any mention of some
peoples'
> > decision to boycott anything French.
> >
> > Dan-O
> >
>
> Presumably because it has made little difference to anything or
because
> they think that it will be very short term.
>
> This is totally OT but I do not understand the boycott anyway. After
all
> neither France nor the UK boycotted Americal goods because Eisenhower
had a
> sulk and opposed the Suez operation. I speak as a supporter of
getting rid
> of Saddam, whether or not he had WMD, but I don't see why the
winegrowers or
> cheesemakers of France should be penalised for the activities of
their
> government - let alone why anyone should cut off their nose to
spite their
> face in refusing to drink French wine.
>
>
>
> Timothy Hartley

I don't have any stats for you Timothy, but I have noticed that my
local state-owned store has fewer "everyday" French wines than it used
to. And I live in a "blue" state (Pennsylvania).
I won't touch the politics of the boycott with a ten-foot pole. I did
that last summer already, and it started a major flame-fest!
As for the article itself, I suppose the writer may have been limited
by space, a tight deadline, or (possibly) an anti-boycott editor. Mere
speculation on my part.

Dan-O

On 4 Mar 2005 09:15:58 -0800, "Dan The Man" >
wrote:


>I don't have any stats for you Timothy, but I have noticed that my
>local state-owned store has fewer "everyday" French wines than it used
>to. And I live in a "blue" state (Pennsylvania).
>I won't touch the politics of the boycott with a ten-foot pole. I did
>that last summer already, and it started a major flame-fest!
>As for the article itself, I suppose the writer may have been limited
>by space, a tight deadline, or (possibly) an anti-boycott editor. Mere
>speculation on my part.
>
>Dan-O

You might be interested in visiting my blog and reading a piece I did
about ten days ago called "Boycott Logic" which addresses just a few
of the complexities of the boycott issue.

The French wine problem is only peripherally effected by the boycott
at this point IMHO, since most buyers of quality French wine are not
into emotion-laden political payback and most intense boycotters
aren't really going to be the regular spenders of big bucks on volume
purchases of French wines.

The current glut may have as much to do with over-inflated ratings by
the likes of Laube, Suckling, Parker, et. al. and under-valued dollars
against the euro as anything.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

Ed Rasimus wrote:

> The French wine problem is only peripherally effected by the boycott
> at this point IMHO, since most buyers of quality French wine are not
> into emotion-laden political payback and most intense boycotters
> aren't really going to be the regular spenders of big bucks on volume
> purchases of French wines.

I agree with you totally Ed. Boycotters in the US are not going to
make a dent in sales.

> The current glut may have as much to do with over-inflated ratings by
> the likes of Laube, Suckling, Parker, et. al. and under-valued dollars
> against the euro as anything.

I think the 40% rise in 4 years of the euro against the dollar has put
such a strain on the producers and imports and there is just not enough
margin left to hold prices down. With a glut on all sides, domestic wines
become a bargain.
Bill

On 4 Mar 2005 09:15:58 -0800, "Dan The Man" > said:

[]
]
] I don't have any stats for you Timothy, but I have noticed that my
] local state-owned store has fewer "everyday" French wines than it used
] to. And I live in a "blue" state (Pennsylvania).
] I won't touch the politics of the boycott with a ten-foot pole. I did
] that last summer already, and it started a major flame-fest!
] As for the article itself, I suppose the writer may have been limited
] by space, a tight deadline, or (possibly) an anti-boycott editor. Mere
] speculation on my part.
]

I meant to post this article before. It states that '04 sales of french
cheese in the US is up 20% over 03, champagne up 4.5%

www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/06/news/ties.html

I don't think the boycott is anything more than a media issue. The
consumer issue has to do with IMHO varietal labeling more than
anything else. Also "new world" style wines in general seem
well suited to "new world" cuisine, (vastly generalizing I know!)
with its bold flavours. (FYI I'm an american, and I like "new world"
cuisine a lot, even if my tastes in wine run towards the old world.)

It is typically french to throw out everything good and emulate
the market success of another rather than trying to stand and build
on ones own strengths. In my view oak chips and over extraction
are not the answer. Quality and traditional methods, with more
transparence and simpler labeling are...

-E
--
Emery Davis
You can reply to
by removing the well known companies

As has been noted, having the varietal on the bottle might help a lot.
The French assume that you should just drink the wine and not care
what the blend is, but that's not how American consumers think. I,
personally, like to know how much petit verdot makes it into a Bordeaux
blend I am drinking. I think less educated wine consumers don't realize that
Burgundy is almost always pinot noir if its red and chardonnay if its not.
Someone who likes merlot may not know what to buy and if you tell them Bordeaux
they might still guess wrong when selecting a bottle. Sometimes even wine shop
owners don't know for sure if a Bordeaux is merlot-based without pulling out a
reference guide (yes, right bank/left bank but it's not always true!).


Another issue is naming. I do not speak much French and so to me it is
difficult to memorize the names of producers and chateaus. We all know
Lafite, Leroy, and Beaucastel, but I know that I have a problem memorizing
French names as compared to American counterparts simply because they
are all so foreign-sounding to me. On top of it, one often has to know the
name of the producer as well, because (as someone pointed out with Clos
Vougeot) the winemaker is often more important than the vineyard. This
presents a barrier to entry at the lower end of the market where wines
like Columbia Crest and Gallo reside. Is Etienne Sauzet a man or a woman,
how exactly does one pronounce Echezeaux, and why don't those darn
grand crus list the village they are from on them?


Also, there is an issue of quality. This is also tied to price, as in
quality/price ratio. French wine can be very high quality, but there
is an awful lot of bad wine produced and that is with only the best even
being imported to the USA. The swill that stays in France can be even
worse! At the top end French wine can still be a relative bargain, but
at the middle and lower tier parts of the market it does not stand up
well to the wine of Spain, California, and Australia. What's worse is
that the wine in California (at least) seems to be getting better and
better as new varietals are planted, growing regions are experimented with,
winemaking and growing techniques are honed, and plant material is
brought in from the Old World. At the same time, I see very little
movement in France. Although there has been some, it is happening at
the levels where good wine is already produced. It needs to happen at
the village levels among the producers destined to make $10 wine.


Finally, it helps wineries in California to have diverse lineups of good
quality wines. For example, I went to Adelaida Cellars in Paso Robles last
weekend. The best known wine is the Viking Reserve, which is a cabernet.
Also fairly well known is the HMR pinot noir. However, while there I tried
(and liked) their white Rhone blend (grenache blanc and rousanne). French
winemakers often don't have that luxury of cross-selling. Even when a major
negociant or conglomerate owns many different labels it is difficult to
cross-sell them. Margaux makes a blanc in addition to the rouge, but its
not always as easy to find. Imagine if Margaux also lent their name to
a Rhone red, a pinot noir, and a riesling made with grapes from vineyards
held by them, tended to their standards, and by their winemaker(s). It's
how large wineries like Mondavi are able to leverage their good name into
larger profits (and, often, produce some good wine in its own right).
I've been to wineries with a lineup of 6-8 wines and debated which
among those is the best with other tasters. Even though the best wine is
often 'clearly' the signature wine, there is always someone in the room who
just doesn't like that syrah and buys a bottle of the lowly zinfandel instead.
Indeed, each of our palates is unique. Maybe American wine consumers who
don't like Pavillon Blanc would really love Margaux's pinot gris at
half the price, but we'll never find out with the current system.


Dimitri

In message >
(D. Gerasimatos) wrote:

>
> As has been noted, having the varietal on the bottle might help a lot.
> The French assume that you should just drink the wine and not care
> what the blend is, but that's not how American consumers think. I,
> personally, like to know how much petit verdot makes it into a Bordeaux
> blend I am drinking. I think less educated wine consumers don't realize that
> Burgundy is almost always pinot noir if its red and chardonnay if its not.
> Someone who likes merlot may not know what to buy and if you tell them Bordeaux
> they might still guess wrong when selecting a bottle. Sometimes even wine shop
> owners don't know for sure if a Bordeaux is merlot-based without pulling out a
> reference guide (yes, right bank/left bank but it's not always true!).

The problem for Bordeaux is that the proportion of each varietal in the
bottle will vary from year to year although the vineyard is planted in the
same proportions. They are not making commercially blended wine which th
consumer can rely on to be the same like some places try to do. That is,
after all, part of the fascination and interest. Doe sit matter to the
�less well educated‘ consumer what is in the bottle? If it does he can
always look it up and begin his education. why must we always pander to the
lowest common denominator? Doing so has ruined so many areas of life,
whether it be manners or television, do we want that for wine?

.....
>
>
> Also, there is an issue of quality. This is also tied to price, as in
> quality/price ratio. French wine can be very high quality, but there
> is an awful lot of bad wine produced and that is with only the best even
> being imported to the USA. The swill that stays in France can be even
> worse! At the top end French wine can still be a relative bargain, but
> at the middle and lower tier parts of the market it does not stand up
> well to the wine of Spain, California, and Australia. What's worse is
> that the wine in California (at least) seems to be getting better and
> better as new varietals are planted, growing regions are experimented with,
> winemaking and growing techniques are honed, and plant material is
> brought in from the Old World. At the same time, I see very little
> movement in France. Although there has been some, it is happening at
> the levels where good wine is already produced. It needs to happen at
> the village levels among the producers destined to make $10 wine.

I do not know what a $10 dollar wine equates to in the UK or France - the
exchange rate will not have helped in recent years and it may be rather
differnet now from two years ago. I know that there is decent wine available
in France from about 4 euros tax free to a small importer — such things as
good Cru Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone Villages like Caiaranne and the like.
Good Grand Cru Saint-Emilion can be had for about 8 euros on the same basis
with GCC from about 12 euros, bought carefully.

It simply is not true to say that there has been little improvement in
France in recent years- just go to the area round Nimes to take one example
and see the difference in how many vineyards are tended and how the wines
are made. Indeed it is in the most humble areas that there has been of
necessity the greatest change. We do not need — or want - change in most
of the best of the classic areas. Where there has been change to over
extracted atypical wines to please foreign tastes there has been no true
improvement.


>
> Finally, it helps wineries in California to have diverse lineups of good
> quality wines. For example, I went to Adelaida Cellars in Paso Robles last
> weekend. The best known wine is the Viking Reserve, which is a cabernet.
> Also fairly well known is the HMR pinot noir. However, while there I tried
> (and liked) their white Rhone blend (grenache blanc and rousanne). French
> winemakers often don't have that luxury of cross-selling. Even when a major
> negociant or conglomerate owns many different labels it is difficult to
> cross-sell them. Margaux makes a blanc in addition to the rouge, but its
> not always as easy to find. Imagine if Margaux also lent their name to
> a Rhone red, a pinot noir, and a riesling made with grapes from vineyards
> held by them, tended to their standards, and by their winemaker(s). It's
> how large wineries like Mondavi are able to leverage their good name into
> larger profits (and, often, produce some good wine in its own right).
> I've been to wineries with a lineup of 6-8 wines and debated which
> among those is the best with other tasters. Even though the best wine is
> often 'clearly' the signature wine, there is always someone in the room who
> just doesn't like that syrah and buys a bottle of the lowly zinfandel instead.
> Indeed, each of our palates is unique. Maybe American wine consumers who
> don't like Pavillon Blanc would really love Margaux's pinot gris at
> half the price, but we'll never find out with the current system.
>
>
> Dimitri
>
This comes back to whether you want commercial blends or wine from terroir
with its own characteristics. I would suggest that in fact the names of the
great vineyards conjure up a far more accurate picture of what is in the
bottle for that vintage - once tasted - than any varietal description can
do. What the poster seems to be suggesting is that that name should, be
exploited commercially to describe other wines of very different
characteristics, of greatly varying quality and from wholly unconnected areas.
Some of the big Burgundy houses do this to a limited extent and do nt, in my view,
always maintain quality acorss the whole range as they expand it. I can
think of some big names whose Chablis or St. Bris I would not touch and
whose reputation is far from enhanced by the attempt to cover too big an
area.
Anyway what on earth is the advanatage of everybody being the same?
Why should the French, and those who love their wine, change a system which works?

If anybody wishes to sell their wine as varietally named they can do so
provided they do not also use an AoC name. Some growers choose to sell
wine as Vin de Pays for this reason. That is their right and no doubt, if they
thought it commercially worthwhile, more would do so.

Timothy Hartley

In article >,
Timothy Hartley > wrote:
>
>The problem for Bordeaux is that the proportion of each varietal in the
>bottle will vary from year to year although the vineyard is planted in the
>same proportions. They are not making commercially blended wine which th
>consumer can rely on to be the same like some places try to do. That is,
>after all, part of the fascination and interest. Doe sit matter to the
>�less well educated‘ consumer what is in the bottle? If it does he can
>always look it up and begin his education. why must we always pander to the
>lowest common denominator? Doing so has ruined so many areas of life,
>whether it be manners or television, do we want that for wine?


It would ruin the wine if they printed the blend used on the label on the back
of the bottle?



>Anyway what on earth is the advanatage of everybody being the same?
>Why should the French, and those who love their wine, change a system which
>works?


If you read the original article you would see that it is not working.


Dimitri

Greetings Dimitri;

> It would ruin the wine if they printed the blend used on the label on the
back
> of the bottle?

Not for me it wouldn't.... I'm kinda interested.
>

> >Why should the French, and those who love their wine, change a system
which
> >works?
>
For them perhaps, but that's the point; they're trying to flog their
product to the rest of us.
>
>
> Dimitri
>
--
Regards
Chuck
So much wine; So little time!

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