Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Deluge of fine wine dismays the French
GuardianUnlimited ^ | September 17, 2006 | Jason Burke

Posted on 09/16/2006 7:04:30 PM PDT by quantim

It is the ultimate irony. For the wine growers of Bordeaux, already suffering a financial crisis, the season has been too good. Though the quality appears to offer hope of salvation, the quantity of the 2006 vintage is causing problems.

(Excerpt) Read more at observer.guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: agriculture; boycotts; cleaningfluid; europeanunion; france; nato; oenology; sanctions; solvents; tariffs; trade; wine; zymurgy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-57 last
To: Caipirabob
There is no such thing as 'California champagne' and it is illegal to label a product as such and only a novice writer and editor would make that mistake.

The writer was 'phishing' so to speak.  The truth was the French were holding back shipments to U.S. ports to drive up prices at the last minute.

There were huge numbers of containers off the coast of Cliquot, Dom, Bollinger, Perrier, etc. sitting and waiting to go through customs.

Big sellers like Costco had none.  As the y2k date approached it was too little too late, there was a glut for years, and many folks that bought futures were plugged and have not forgotten.

Then followed by the 9/11 economic impact, French U.N. follies, and so forth.

41 posted on 09/17/2006 6:13:08 AM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: nctexan
Good one!

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée: Chateau Le Crawford?

42 posted on 09/17/2006 6:18:41 AM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: tubebender
Who picks the grapes the Frenchies won't pick...

Usually, the German Army.

43 posted on 09/17/2006 6:22:20 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: RayChuang88
"Chile are excellent wine-growing regions with conditions like that of Napa and Sonoma Valley in California."

- I read somewhere that there is a grape growing valley on the western side of the Chilean Andes which is the only place in the world where the vines still have the root stock that was otherwise wiped out world wide in the late 19th. century.
The mountains apparently protected the vines from the wind born parasite infestation.
So, if you want to know what a true Cabernet Sauvignon wine must have tasted like back then, you can still buy wine from this Chilean valley to find out.
44 posted on 09/17/2006 6:41:48 AM PDT by finnigan2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: cyborg

"France has the best cheese...."

- How do you think they got their name; "Cheese eating surrender monkeys?"


45 posted on 09/17/2006 6:45:14 AM PDT by finnigan2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: quantim
There were huge numbers of containers off the coast of Cliquot, Dom, Bollinger, Perrier, etc. sitting and waiting to go through customs.

Fascinating info--you always have the best inside info for these threads!

46 posted on 09/17/2006 8:33:10 AM PDT by NautiNurse (Katherine Harris for U.S. Senate)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: finnigan2

There are also some very old pre-phylloxera vines in Argentina as well. Try some 'Malbec' old-vine if you can find it - warning, you'll get what you pay for but for $22 you can get your socks knocked off.


47 posted on 09/17/2006 10:08:55 AM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: quantim

I loe a good frog whine.
Lower your price and dump it.


48 posted on 09/17/2006 10:15:28 AM PDT by Hydroshock ( (Proverbs 22:7). The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NautiNurse

Actually I was told by various state wine distributors (who I bought from) that they had NONE - yet they had ordered their imports way ahead of time and delivery dates were not met.

Well as wine buyers you have a finite time frame and limited budget, you're planning events so the monies just went somewhere else. You're not going to be caught flat-footed on the job. It would be foolish to promise a party a particular wine (Champagne) if you didn't already have it on premise or earmarked at the distributor warehouse.


49 posted on 09/17/2006 10:16:12 AM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: quantim
The best sparkling wine (Champagne) ever -

Nyetimber

Grown and produced a few miles from where I live.

Regards, Ivan

50 posted on 09/17/2006 10:16:57 AM PDT by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MadIvan

I'll need a sample to verify that. Make that two samples, just in case I don't get it right the first time. ;-)


51 posted on 09/17/2006 10:28:10 AM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: finnigan2

Carmenère, a Bordeaux grape, has become pretty much the signature grape for Chilean wine makers. It was difficult to grow in France, and reportedly the Chilean grapes were mistakenly identified as Merlot until about ten years ago.


52 posted on 09/17/2006 10:41:08 AM PDT by NautiNurse (Katherine Harris for U.S. Senate)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: quantim

The soil of West Sussex (where I live) is similar in composition to that of the Champagne region in France. We've been producing excellent sparkling wine for some time as a result.

I don't drink Frog stuff.

Regards, Ivan


53 posted on 09/17/2006 10:48:22 AM PDT by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: quantim
(/cue Eric Idle)

"A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a pity as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palate but also to the cognoscenti of America.

Black Stump Bordeaux is rightly praised as a peppermint flavoured Burgundy, whilst a good Sydney Syrup can rank with any of the world's best sugary wines. Château Blue, too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering afterburn.

Old Smokey 1968 has been compared favourably to a Welsh claret, whilst the Australian Wino Society thoroughly recommends a 1970 Coq du Rod Laver, which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: 8 bottles of this and you're really finished. At the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour.

Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is Perth Pink. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is 'beware'. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.

Another good fighting wine is Melbourne Old-and-Yellow, which is particularly heavy and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat.

Quite the reverse is true of Château Chunder, which is an appellation contrôlée, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation; a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends.

Real emetic fans will also go for a Hobart Muddy, and a prize winning Cuivre Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga, which has a bouquet like an aborigine's armpit."

54 posted on 09/17/2006 10:56:21 AM PDT by Jonah Hex ("How'd you get that scar, mister?" "Nicked myself shaving.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BlazingArizona

I always liked Mogen David, Concord. Sort of tastes like the homemade Mustang grape wine made by the old German farmers around Central Texas.


55 posted on 09/17/2006 11:17:59 AM PDT by rock58seg (A minority of Republican RINO's are making a lot of Republicans look like fools.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: BlazingArizona
"MD20...I think that's what I use on squeaky door hinges!"

That should be MD2020..

56 posted on 09/17/2006 11:30:17 AM PDT by cibco (Xin Loi! Saddam)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: quantim

I like a good bottle of wine. I stick to the California wines; there are many excellent ones available.


57 posted on 09/17/2006 11:38:48 AM PDT by ContraryMary (New Jersey -- Superfund cleanup capital of the U.S.A.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-57 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson