Forlorn French winemakers driven to the wall - and to suicide

UK Telegraph ^ | 2/12/06 | Kim Willsher and Chris Mercer

[wagglebee]

For years the French had to contend with the fact that wine from California, Argentina, Chile and Australia was as good or better than all but a few French wines. But then they went and pissed off the American people, and now they are paying for it. I don't feel sorry for them.

[wagglebee]

[Emmalein]

Wine ping?

[GSlob]

Are those vintners going in style? Say, drowning themselves in their wine, Malmsey or otherwise? They ought to do it with style and elegance - elan, as they say.

[RushCrush]

Buy more California wine PING!

[SkyPilot]

It's true.

Restaurants in the Philadelphia area that I frequent stopped carrying French wine. It wasn't that most of the owners were so angry with the French, it was that the wines just were not selling.

[horse_doc]

On Wednesday Mrs Montosson and thousands of other winemakers will take to the streets of southern France

Burn a Renault. You'll feel better, and the government will pay you off.

[Muleteam1]

Four star Chilean wines beat French wines anyway.

Muleteam1

[goldstategop]

French cuisine and French wine have taken a hit lately. It comes with being a government-protected monopoly. There's no need to be concerned with quality.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

Heh, heh, heh...

Down heah in "Bama, we ain't bought nuttin french in a long whiles.

[Cicero]

I'm still very fond of French wine. But I'm not going to buy it.

[southernerwithanattitude]

Supply and demand, what a concept!

[Sarastro]

We drink a lot of wine at our house. Used to drink a lot of French wine too. But none since the French sided with Saddam. My wine store knows that I won't buy any French and comes up with excellent non-French wines. We've gone to a restaurant with only French wines on the list. I told the owner that we'd have water if there were only French wines. He managed to come up with an Argentinian wine (it was fine). FReepers — keep it up! The French need to know there are consequences to sticking their thumb in our eye.

[Brilliant]

I can buy a better wine from California at half the price. I'd be the first to admit, though, that the real problem is that they've inflated the euro. If their central planners weren't so determined to have a "strong" currency, at any expense, they'd probably be in fine shape economically.

[TheLion]

The French have a lot of problems with wine recently. The French are drinking a lot less themselves, more imports are coming in and they have some big competition worldwide.

Lot of little wineries are probably going to go out of business.

Of course, France could have helped the situation by standing beside the US, in our time of need.

[infowarrior]

It wasn't that most of the owners were so angry with the French, it was that the wines just were not selling.

Perhaps the owners weren't angry at the French, but who is to say how the clientele felt?

the infowarrior

[WV Mountain Mama]

Did anyone else laugh as they envisioned a french wine militant group (as if this isn't funny enough) attacking vats of wine? I'll bet the militants actually retreated a couple of times before one person went and threw a hunk of cheese in a vat.

[TimSkalaBim]

The French vinyards should convert to German U-boat pens.

Wait, make that "Islam peace-bomb" factories.

[JasonC]

1994 to 2000, French wine exports grew in value by 10% per year. 2000 to now, -1% per year. Prices increases help cover some of the drop in volume. The only market to which their exports are growing, is Asia.

[1rudeboy]

Last year Mrs Montosson did not sell a single drop from her 50-acre vineyard for eight months because she refused the price offered by her agent.

Here is a good part of your problem, Madam.