[Clemenza]

I know several people in the retail end of the wine business. All their wines from France are collecting dust, so they haven't been ordering more. The devaluation of the dollar doesn't help, although they still are buying the same quantities from Italy and Spain.

The Italians export wines at various qualities and price, while the French only export what they consider to be "export quality" wines and price them at a premium. With all the competition from both the "New World" and other countries in Europe, however, this has proven to be quite uneconomical.

[Atlantic Friend]

It's true - but also because the demand is currently for these prestigious vintages. Should customers have the opportunity and curiosity to try for other French wines, I'm pretty sure they'd find there's quite a large range from which to choose.