I scanned the list of affiliates of The LA Times(The Tribune Co.) and The Washington Post/Newsweek in relation to the legal settlement with Free Republic and Jim Robinson. No where was MSNBC listed, nor Reuters.
While it is often pointless to post from any of the above mentioned sources I will post the entire story from Reuters.
French Wine Producers Feel Squeeze of U.S. Boycott
Wed June 25, 2003 03:50 PM ET
By Claude Cannellas
BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - Calls to boycott French products during the trans-Atlantic spat over Iraq contributed to a slump in U.S. sales of French wines, which were down by about a quarter from last year, wine merchants said.
With the weak dollar also weighing, flagging sales to the United States left an air of gloom over the Vinexpo wine fair in Bordeaux, which a warm handshake between French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and U.S. Ambassador Howard Leach could not lift.
"There's been a drop of 14 percent in March and 22 percent in April in sales of French wine," said New York wine importer Timothy Enos at the 12th biennial Vinexpo salon, describing the U.S. backlash against French products as "ridiculous and excessive."
"The big wines still have their place. The drama is for the smaller wines, like generic wines. I'm afraid that for them the competition is much more difficult," he said.
France's opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which prevented Washington getting United Nations approval for its military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein, sparked U.S. calls for consumers to boycott French products like wine and cheese.
Other merchants at the wine fair muttered off the record that their sales were down as much as 40 percent, and an online survey concluded that sales of French wine to the United States fell 26 percent in volume terms in the month to mid-May, compared to the same period a year ago.
While the United States accounts for less than 10 percent of overall French exports, the U.S. market is the biggest buyer of Bordeaux wines which include favorites like Saint-Emilion.
France's wine producers are also suffering, along with other traditional producers like Italy and Spain, from increased production and tough competition from New World vineyards in California, Australia and Chile.
Roland Feredj, head of the Bordeaux Interprofessional Wine Council (CIVB), said that while first-quarter sales of Bordeaux to U.S. merchants had been boosted by demand for the 2000 millesime (millennium) vintage, U.S. consumption of Bordeaux had slumped.
"Over the past two months we've seen a fall of practically 25 percent, and that's more worrying," Feredj said. "But we think it's a phenomenon that will fade away with time."
Nicolas Gailly, chief executive of wine firm Barton et Guestier told the French daily Les Echos this week that his sales were down 25 percent in early 2003 "because of the weak dollar and the boycott."
Raffarin, visiting the June 22-26 Vinexpo salon on Sunday, shook hands with Leach, and the pair pledged to get relations back to normal between the two countries after overall U.S. imports of French goods fell 9.6 percent in the first quarter.
Some 50,000 wine professionals attended Vinexpo, where about 40 countries put their wines on show.
Related post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/932890/posts French Wine Sales Still Dropping in United States
Wine Spectator
June 18, 2003
Dana Nigro
This is excellent news.