Sour grapes for world’s top wines
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AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 08, 2009 00:00
BORDEAUX - French wine producers have suffered a difficult 2008 and 2009 is looking to be as bad. Although many wines from the year’s vintage are described as being 'very good,' the vintage was expensive and one of the lowest on record and national consumption has slid under government pressure
Swirling in a cocktail of alcohol abuse legislation, 2008 was all sour grapes for French wine, which was once proud symbol of the nation's identity.
Long viewed as a quintessential part of the French lifestyle, along with fine foods and good living, wine is slumping so low in the national esteem that winemakers have even complained of being treated like drug dealers by the government, and their Web sites put on par with porn.
One recent survey highlighted the change in popular attitudes toward wine, showing that 51 percent of people now considered the national drink "risky."
"Wine in France used to escape the negative perceptions of being an alcoholic drink," said Raphael Berger of the statistics center on living conditions, CREDOC, which issued the study.
New laws in 2008
France's Health Ministry, which has successfully cracked down on drink driving, spent much of 2008 preparing new laws to curb teenage binge drinking and alcohol abuse.
Measures due next year include increasing the legal age to buy alcohol from 16 to 18, a ban on happy hours and open bars Ğ where a flat "drink all you can" fee is charged Ğ and a possible prohibition on free wine-tasting events. Until 2008, booming exports compensated for much of the domestic slide, notably to eager British and US wine buffs. But this year's global economic turmoil has stalled these markets; leaving wine exports for the first nine months down by almost 10 percent in volume, according to France's export development board Ubifrance.
In value terms, the director of the Federation of Wine and Spirit Exporters, or FEVS, Renaud Gaillard predicted zero increase for the end of 2008.
The potent mix of negative conditions for 2009 is even more worrying, he said. "There is no indicator we will be coming out of this crisis quickly," hesaid.
On top of this year's drop in demand, producers had to manage one of the toughest growing seasons on record Ğ including frosts, hail and torrential rains that sparked vineyard disease such as mildew and botrytis.
Although many wines from the 2008 vintage are described as being "very good," the vintage was expensive and one of the lowest on record, leading to supply problems and shortages of certain products such as Bordeaux whites.
Failure to legalize web ads
Communicating about wine has been another thorny issue this year, with the government so far failing to legalize the Internet as a medium for alcohol publicity. But such problems are not limited to the Web.
After a number of recent successful court cases taken by France's anti-alcohol lobby against Heineken, champagne giant Moet et Chandon, and national daily newspaper Le Parisien Ğ who were all judged to have broken the law by promoting wine drinking Ğ self-censorship has kicked in.
Among winegrowers, resentment is so strong that on Oct. 30, the industry took to the streets, daubing paint over road-signs for the Bordeaux, Champagne and Burgundy regions to protest alleged "wine censorship" as well as a proposed new wine tax.
The tax since has been adopted, although the government may be caving in on other matters.
Health Minister Roslyne Bachelot recently suggested wine advertising on the Web might be legalized early next year, but many in the industry remain skeptical, saying they will wait for results.
Draft legislation leaked to the press earlier this year, which attempted to legalize wine ads, proposed limiting access to wine sites to certain hours Ğ the same regulations proposed for pornographic sites.
Indeed, spiraling claims of alleged government hostility toward wine reached such proportions in 2008 that two prominent wine journalists accused the government of hindering wine consumption to boost sales of anti-depressants in order to pander to the stronger pharmaceuticals lobby.
"Viticulture products are placed in the same category as drugs," Jean-Charles Tastavy, an independent wine producer and member of the Council for Moderation and Prevention, recently told a local wine publication.
The outlook for the future is not bright despite good demand for his wines, Thomas Duroux, director of one of Bordeaux's most famous chateaux, Palmer, told AFP.
"In terms of communication, 2008 has been a horrible year," he said.
Long viewed as a quintessential part of the French lifestyle, along with fine foods and good living, wine is slumping so low in the national esteem that winemakers have even complained of being treated like drug dealers by the government, and their Web sites put on par with porn.
One recent survey highlighted the change in popular attitudes toward wine, showing that 51 percent of people now considered the national drink "risky."
"Wine in France used to escape the negative perceptions of being an alcoholic drink," said Raphael Berger of the statistics center on living conditions, CREDOC, which issued the study.
New laws in 2008
France's Health Ministry, which has successfully cracked down on drink driving, spent much of 2008 preparing new laws to curb teenage binge drinking and alcohol abuse.
Measures due next year include increasing the legal age to buy alcohol from 16 to 18, a ban on happy hours and open bars Ğ where a flat "drink all you can" fee is charged Ğ and a possible prohibition on free wine-tasting events. Until 2008, booming exports compensated for much of the domestic slide, notably to eager British and US wine buffs. But this year's global economic turmoil has stalled these markets; leaving wine exports for the first nine months down by almost 10 percent in volume, according to France's export development board Ubifrance.
In value terms, the director of the Federation of Wine and Spirit Exporters, or FEVS, Renaud Gaillard predicted zero increase for the end of 2008.
The potent mix of negative conditions for 2009 is even more worrying, he said. "There is no indicator we will be coming out of this crisis quickly," hesaid.
On top of this year's drop in demand, producers had to manage one of the toughest growing seasons on record Ğ including frosts, hail and torrential rains that sparked vineyard disease such as mildew and botrytis.
Although many wines from the 2008 vintage are described as being "very good," the vintage was expensive and one of the lowest on record, leading to supply problems and shortages of certain products such as Bordeaux whites.
Failure to legalize web ads
Communicating about wine has been another thorny issue this year, with the government so far failing to legalize the Internet as a medium for alcohol publicity. But such problems are not limited to the Web.
After a number of recent successful court cases taken by France's anti-alcohol lobby against Heineken, champagne giant Moet et Chandon, and national daily newspaper Le Parisien Ğ who were all judged to have broken the law by promoting wine drinking Ğ self-censorship has kicked in.
Among winegrowers, resentment is so strong that on Oct. 30, the industry took to the streets, daubing paint over road-signs for the Bordeaux, Champagne and Burgundy regions to protest alleged "wine censorship" as well as a proposed new wine tax.
The tax since has been adopted, although the government may be caving in on other matters.
Health Minister Roslyne Bachelot recently suggested wine advertising on the Web might be legalized early next year, but many in the industry remain skeptical, saying they will wait for results.
Draft legislation leaked to the press earlier this year, which attempted to legalize wine ads, proposed limiting access to wine sites to certain hours Ğ the same regulations proposed for pornographic sites.
Indeed, spiraling claims of alleged government hostility toward wine reached such proportions in 2008 that two prominent wine journalists accused the government of hindering wine consumption to boost sales of anti-depressants in order to pander to the stronger pharmaceuticals lobby.
"Viticulture products are placed in the same category as drugs," Jean-Charles Tastavy, an independent wine producer and member of the Council for Moderation and Prevention, recently told a local wine publication.
The outlook for the future is not bright despite good demand for his wines, Thomas Duroux, director of one of Bordeaux's most famous chateaux, Palmer, told AFP.
"In terms of communication, 2008 has been a horrible year," he said.