French Wine Sales Still Dropping in United States

Wine Spectator ^ | June 18, 2003 | Dana Nigro

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Are Americans still holding a grudge? For the third consecutive four-week period, sales of French table wines in the United States have declined substantially, following drops in March and April.

French wine sales dropped 26.2 percent in case volume and 27 percent in dollar value for the four weeks ending May 18, 2003, compared to the same period a year ago, according to retail data from Information Resources Inc. That's the biggest decrease in French wines for any four-week period since the calls for a boycott heated up in response to France's refusal to support war in Iraq; for the 12 weeks ending May 18, the decline averages out to 23.9 percent in volume and 24 percent in dollar value.

At the same time, sales of table wines from around the world have been on the rise compared to a year ago. According to IRI, overall wine sales increased 4.4 percent in volume and 1.5 percent in value for the four weeks ending May 18. Those numbers would have been even higher if it had not been for the drop in French wines. IRI's InfoScan tracking service collects scanner data from multiple retail outlets in the United States.

Sales of table wines from the United States were up again in volume (2.1 percent) for the May period, following a rise in the April period, but down slightly in value (1.6 percent), according to IRI.

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Australian?

Try 2001 Reynolds Vineyards - Orange Vinyard, New South Wales Shiraz - $16.

Or 2001 Yangarra Park - South Eastern Australia Shiraz - $8.

[lelio]

Those numbers would have been even higher if it had not been for the drop in French wines.
That's not true at all. As overall sales are up 2% that means people shifted from buying French to buying other foreign or domestic brands. The pie grew a little bit and France lost out on a big chunk of it.

[Paul Atreides]

Sacre beu heu!

[Eala]

This figures, since only Republicans can afford the French wine.

Um. Hello? Don't know about the rest of the country (I live in the Peoples' Soviet of Washington), but my experience of *active* Republicans in Seattle is:
- They are not wealthy,
- They are committed to their cause (there being more than one),
- Many have made personal sacrifices for their country, and
- They know diddly about "French" wines.

My experience of liberals here:
- They tend to be wealthy (well, the ones I see),
- Their "causes" are not what I would consider pro-American,
- "Ask not what I can do for my country, ask what my country can do for me," and - They will not give up French wines and cheese.

(Now I've had French wine & cheese -- over there, not the inferior stuff they export -- but for our latest wedding anniversary the Francophone/Farsi-speaking goodwife was happy for a nice Northwest champagne in lieu of something from a country apparently opposed to Iranian freedom.)

[Eala]

Australian, in my most humble opinion, are the best bang for the buck ... consistantly very good and priced to sell.

A lot of good stuff is coming out of the Hunter Valley -- though IMHO it's decidedly odd to see so many Scottish names as the vintners of so many good wines! (So much for the Auld Alliance... *\;-)

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I think you're right. Those numbers don't just reflect a lot of people giving up French wine for lent. Americans are staying home a little more and spending some of that time drinking a little more wine. But not Gallic wine.

[Mihalis]

I tried Lindeman's Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 45 last night, a very nice and inexpensive Australian wine. Regular price $10, on sale for $7.

[JRandomFreeper]

I needed a Cotes du Rhone for a dish I prepared tonight, and didn't want to buy french, so I asked my sommnier for a good replacement. He suggested (Seriously) Goats do Roam.

It's a South African wine made with generally the same types of grapes, Grenache, Pinotage, Shiraz, Cinsault, and Carignan.

I think it's actually better than some of the vintages I've had from France. And dinner went off wonderfully.

/john

[Log]

Greg Norman owns a good (Australian) winery. Most anything under his label is good.

[CommandoFrank]

I tried some Mogan David 2003, vintage last Thrusday, and it was good. Spilled some on my shirt and it ate a hole in it. Oh well...

[kellynla]

Excellent news! I quit drinking the champagne and the Goose!

[manic4organic]

Heck, we even have wineries in TEXAS now! That alone should scare the French.

[xm177e2]

Let them eat cake.

They can't sell their wine? Let them drink it.

[sarasmom]

Wine is the tip of the iceburg.
Normal people eat yogurt, also.
Dannon and Yoplait seem to be gathering a little dust on shelves.
I know I dont buy it, and I am vocal as to why I dont buy it, when we stroll that isle in the grocery store.
The store brands and Breyers seem to be slowly commanding larger shelf space.
More people need to know that the French are heavily into yogurt.
A guess, but I would venture the French would feel a more lethal blow, if the boycott highlighted exported staples, as opposed to luxury items.
It would be interesting to find the figures regarding Yoplait and Dannon sales.For us unwashed, uneducated wine drinking masses...who did not buy overly priced French wines, anyway.

[JRandomFreeper]

we even have wineries in TEXAS now! That alone should scare the French.

I was sceptical at first, even though I am Texas born and bred, and love my State. But the Llano wines aren't terrible. I've even developed some recipes that work really well with them.

The vintners in Texas need some time to refine the process, but they do ok.

/john

[stboz]

In the "How low can you go?" category, I just found a bottle of Willow Creek Merlot at the Save-Mart for $1.88 in Fresno. Bottled in Lodi, just up the road a piece. It hasn't burned a hole in my shirt, but I've has HAZMAT training.

[Think free or die]

We have 3 yogurt eaters in the family. Dannon no longer graces the shelves of our fridge. Now it's Brown Cow, with yummy cream on top. The kids have given up asking for Dannon; they know it's not coming back. Likewise the wine. We didn't buy French much anyway, but it's off the list permanently. We stick with domestic wines most of the time.

[Snuffington]

This is more impressive in the context of a stellar 2000 vintage of Bordeaux in the market this year. The drop is certainly not due to quality this year!

[Snuffington]

So are American cheeses.

Um... speaking as one next door to Wisconsin, we have a way to go there yet. Thankfully we have England, Spain, and Italy to wean us off of our French stuff.

[PoorMuttly]

Yes, that's true. But we must make some small sacrifices to hammer..uh...clearly make our little point...through the haze of cigarette smoke and philosophy, so our French brothers and sisters realize once again, that they really are not alone...and that may be a very good thing for them.